US Teachers Ranked 26th in Global Pay

[Toro]

Out of 33 OECD countries.

An ongoing meme of those supporting Governor Walker's efforts to crush public unions in Wisconsin is the repeated claims that public workers are overpaid. There is plenty of evidence that this is not so, even with their greater benefits, but I think another piece of evidence may be useful, a cross-country comparison of teacher salaries. This is important given that at the state and local levels, teachers are the most numerous of public workers, and it is hard to compare them with private sector equivalents, who are not that numerous at the K-12 level.

So, according to OECD data reported by the New York Times for 2007, out of 33 OECD countries, the US is #26 in pay per GDP for primary school teachers with 15 years of experience. No, we are not overpaying our teachers, not at all.

EconoSpeak: Are Teachers Overpaid In The US?

 

[Trajan]

I didn't see a metric in there for performance. As in how we do via a vis the other OECD members in scholastic performance.

 

[Toro]

I didn't see a metric in there for performance. As in how we do via a vis the other OECD members in scholastic performance.

Well, America tends to rank fairly low globally on student tests. But I'm not sure how much stock to put into that.

 

[Dr.House]

I don't remember seeing anyone argue that qualified teachers are overpaid...

 

[Trajan]

I didn't see a metric in there for performance. As in how we do via a vis the other OECD members in scholastic performance.

Well, America tends to rank fairly low globally on student tests. But I'm not sure how much stock to put into that.

I agree, I never liked nor totally bought the WHO, OECD stats etc.


Hence, I think the comparisons ala the ties study are of dubious value, for instance the 'pay' is it total compensation, how do account for the medical retirement benefits ( pension values) the teachers here by and large get vis a vis the medical coverage systems the OECD nations have iin place? ......*shrugs*. food for thought though, thx.

 

[boedicca]

Perspective:

A Picture Is Worth $300 Billion | Cato @ Liberty


And note - the chart is in constant 2008 dollars - the increase is all real, not inflationary.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Out of 33 OECD countries.

An ongoing meme of those supporting Governor Walker's efforts to crush public unions in Wisconsin is the repeated claims that public workers are overpaid. There is plenty of evidence that this is not so, even with their greater benefits, but I think another piece of evidence may be useful, a cross-country comparison of teacher salaries. This is important given that at the state and local levels, teachers are the most numerous of public workers, and it is hard to compare them with private sector equivalents, who are not that numerous at the K-12 level.

So, according to OECD data reported by the New York Times for 2007, out of 33 OECD countries, the US is #26 in pay per GDP for primary school teachers with 15 years of experience. No, we are not overpaying our teachers, not at all.

EconoSpeak: Are Teachers Overpaid In The US?

Pay per GDP? When did that become a standard for measuring anything?

Sidebar: Teacher salaries are not a clear-cut marker of teacher compensation /*

• At both starting and maximum salary levels, primary and lower secondary school teachers in the United States had among the highest average salaries of all countries for which data were available when salaries were viewed in absolute terms (in constant U.S. dollars). To illustrate, the 1992 average salary of the primary school teachers at the maximum salary level was higher in the United States than it was in all of the countries reported except Japan, Austria, and Portugal. At the lower secondary level, the starting salaries of U.S. teachers were among the highest in absolute terms, at $21,787, along with those of teachers from Spain ($22,964) and Germany ($27,444).
• However, U.S. primary and lower secondary school teachers did not fare as well when the salary was viewed relative to GDP per capita. All of the G-7 countries with available data equaled or exceeded the United States on this measure (at both starting and maximum salary levels), as did most of the remaining countries.
• The ratio of teacher salary to per capita GDP varied considerably across the countries presented. To illustrate, the ratio of starting salary for primary school teachers to per capita GDP ranged from 84 in Sweden to 188 in Turkey.

EDUCATION INDICATORS: An International Perspective / Indicator 40

Turkey, with the highest pay to per capita GDP pays just over $12,000 annually. Comparing pay to per capita GDP in an attempt to prove US teachers are underpaid is, at best, iffy. In this case it is downright ridiculous.