Starting in the 1980s with the introduction of “21st Century Skills”, we have seen a shift in our education system needing to prepare students for more complex jobs balancing IQ, EQ, and technological savvy. This has been largely driven by the growing share of jobs defined as knowledge work (non-routine, cognitive work e.g., lawyers, engineers, programmers, and academics).²
K-12 teachers are expected to prepare the next generation of learners for these more complex roles – a task made even more challenging due to the lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic including managing hybrid classrooms, worsening student mental health, persistent school violence, and more.³
Yet, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI, a think tank dedicated to the needs of low-and-middle-income workers), teachers’ inflation-adjusted average weekly wages have only increased by $29 since 1996, compared to nonteacher roles which have seen an increase of $445 over the same period.⁴
Moreover, this stagnancy of teacher wages fails to account for how much the demands on and responsibilities of teachers have changed.
Like many organizations and institutions, K-12 schools are facing increasingly challenging labor shortages, teacher strikes are becoming more common,⁷ and fewer college students are expressing interest in becoming teachers.⁵ These trends necessitate a concerted focus on identifying solutions to the current K-12 teacher recruitment and retention situation.
One such solution was recently proposed in the form of the “American Teacher Act” which would establish a federal minimum salary of $60,000 by the end of the 2024-25 school year.¹ While this may address the compensation aspect of the current teacher shortage, it is important not to lose sight of the continuously more complex working environment we’re asking our teachers to operate in.
In fact, the EPI findings conclude that there is no actual shortage of potentially qualified teachers, but instead a shortage of qualified teachers who would be willing to work at current wages and under current working conditions.⁶
Sources:
1. https://www.edsurge.com/news/2023-03-06-the-idea-of-a-teacher-salary-minimum-is-gaining-steam-in-congress-where-has-this-worked
2. St. Louis FED, FRED Economic Data, Tuscany Analysis
3. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covids-education-crisis-a-lost-generation/
5. https://www.edsurge.com/news/2022-02-07-what-it-takes-to-recruit-future-teachers-during-the-pandemic
6. https://www.epi.org/publication/shortage-of-teachers/
7. https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/21/us/lausd-seiu-local-99-strike/index.html
