Most empirical teacher attrition research focuses on estimating the effect of either the alternate occupation opportunities or the teacher work environment on teacher attrition. In this paper, we use non-teaching wages of former teachers to estimate the determinants of teacher attrition, including the wage differential between teaching and…

The share of female teachers in the U.S. with an MA more than doubled between 1970 and 2000. This increase is puzzling, as it is much larger than that of other college-educated women, and it occurred over a period of declining teacher aptitude. I estimate the contribution of changes in teacher demographic characteristics, increases in the returns…

Teachers are more likely to be found in rural communities and low-wage metropolitan areas than are college-educated workers in other occupations. This analysis explores the extent to which the geographic distribution of teachers explains the relatively low average wage found in other studies. The analysis suggests that excluding geographic…

Previous research has established the returns to academic ability in the general labor market, and this paper investigates such returns in the teacher labor market. Using a nationally representative sample of public school teachers, I find that teachers who graduate from the most selective undergraduate institutions have salaries that are between…

This paper uses the 1998 reform in the funding of fundamental education in Brazil (FUNDEF) to identify the effect of teachers' wages on the proficiency of public school pupils. Wages are set by legislation at the local level and this reform established a floor on the share of expenditures on teacher wages out of total revenues in each Brazilian…

Local school districts differ in their ability to pay for teacher quality, and in the amenities they offer as places to live and work. Market clearing with heterogeneous quality yields geographically varying teacher salary levels that confound scarcity with unobserved differences in quality. The paper discusses identification and estimation of a…

Average faculty salaries differ widely across fields at American colleges and universities and the magnitudes of these field differences in salaries have been growing over time. What is less well known, however, is that at any point in time there are wide differences in the magnitudes of field differences in faculty salaries across academic…

Examines the compensation levels necessary to induce white teachers to teach in black schools, using 1968 Massachusetts data. Teachers seem to demand higher wages to teach less wealthy, lower-achieving students, not necessarily nonwhites. Wealthy districts with more white students may demand and pay more for better teachers, reversing expected…

Uses data from the 1985 Cote d'Ivoire Living Standards Survey to examine pay differences between teachers and other wage earners in the Ivory Coast. Results indicate that teachers' base salaries contain a rent component that disappears when the total remuneration plan is considered. Includes 20 references. (MLH)

Using Current Population Survey data, this study investigates the effect of a wage differential between a teacher's current wage and wages of alternative occupations on teachers' decisions to leave the profession. Results show that opportunity costs (wage differentials) influence teacher supply. A merit-based, market-sensitive teacher salary…

Examines to what degree variation in average teacher salaries is caused by differences across states in cost of living, teachers' personal characteristics, job characteristics, and educational demand. Uses results to adjust the average salaries and computes new, significantly different state rankings based on these adjustments. (19 references)…

A recent study found that local teacher salaries in North Carolina are related to cost-of-living measures. After accounting for education and experience characteristics, local teacher salaries are higher in districts having a greater proportion of secondary teachers, larger school sizes, and a greater demand for education. (Contains 20…

This paper compares relative earnings by sex among university faculty members as estimated from both cross-section and longitudinal data samples. Results indicate substantial differences in estimated male-female salary ratios. (TE)

Uses household survey data from 12 Latin American countries to assess how teacher salaries compare to other workers' salaries. Results show great variability from one country to another. When statistical controls are introduced for the differential education, hours worked, and gender composition, the earnings differential between the two groups…

Examines the relationship between teacher shortages and teacher salary differentials for mathematics and science teachers from a sample of school districts within large metropolitan areas. Results support the proposition that salary differentials between teachers and alternative occupations influence teacher shortages. (MLF)