Also, because they invest a lot more consistently and over an indefinite timescale (and so don’t need to get less aggressive over time), pension funds (even those that don’t underfund their obligations) can generate much higher retirement income levels with lower contributions. I’ve read analyses where individuals would need to put away 10-15% of their income to have as much in retirement as they would from a pension fund where the company put away 7% of their salary.
