Factors that influence teacher attrition are not well understood. Although past research has uncovered individual, work-related, and economic opportunity factors that influence teachers to leave their profession, more research is needed. This study (n=14,489) attempted to increase understanding of teacher's career decisions using data from the fifth followup of the National Longitudinal Study of 1972 (NLS-72) by answering four questions: (1) In what occupations were employed respondents in the 1986 NLS followup found? (2) How many persons from the cohort who became elementary or secondary teachers later took other jobs and in what occupations were leaving teachers found? (3) How many persons who intially entered other occupations subsequently took teaching jobs in elementary and secondary schools, and what occupations did they leave in order to teach? and (4) How did the salary experiences of persons who remained in elementary and secondary teaching compare with the experiences of those who never taught, those who left teaching for other occupations, and those who entered teaching from other occupations? The major findings indicated that 60 percent of the members of the sample were teaching in 1986. The remainder had either taken jobs in other fields or were unemployed. Generally, teachers who left education for positions in other areas received higher salaries than those who entered teaching from positions in other areas. However, job changers did not fare as well as those who stayed with their first occupational choice. Further analysis of the data revealed that the professional/technical, managerial/administrative, sales, and clerical tracks receive the bulk of the job-changers.(JAM)