This paper describes an initial effort to provide a carefully reasoned, factually based, systematic analysis of teacher pay in comparison to pay in other occupations available to college-educated workers. It also reports on the sensitivity of these salary comparison estimates to differences in certain characteristics of the labor force, such as sex, age, marital status, and ethnic identity. The data, derived from the individual record file of the March 1983 Current Population Survey of the United States Bureau of the Census, consisted of observations of college-educated salaried workers in the 12 southeastern states: 3,383 nonteachers and 373 public school teachers. Primary analysis of data provides comparisons of average annual wage between teachers and nonteachers, personal characteristics of the two groups, and comparison of average annual teacher salaries for 1981-82 and 1982-83. A regression equation is then used to relate annual earnings of college-educated workers in nonteaching occupations to various independent variables. Results of the analysis show that current teacher pay levels are inadequate to compete with other occupations. Suggestions are made as to the specific salary ranges within which competitive teacher salaries might lie. References are included, along with six illustrative tables. (TE)