Nevertheless, most public school teachers would not earn more in private employment. According to our analysis of the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation, the average person who moves into teaching receives a pay increase of almost 9%, while the average teacher who leaves for the private economy must take a pay cut of over 3%.
This is the opposite of what we would expect if teachers were underpaid. It also helps explain why more people seek teaching jobs—as measured through the number of teaching graduates and applications for teaching positions—than can possibly find them.
In short, combining salaries, fringe benefits and job security, we have calculated that public school teachers receive around 52% more in average compensation than they could earn in the private sector.
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Biggs and Richwine: Public School Teachers Aren’t Underpaid - WSJ.com A few thoughts - this is focused on _average_ teachers - and the research says top teachers and math/science specialists are likely underpaid relative to the private sector. Also the authors don’t ever claim that teachers’ pay should be cut. It’s essentially just saying that on average they are reasonably compensated based on this comparison. |
