Teacher shortages vanish when the price is right
From Tuesday, October 15, 2002
An earlier New York Times article on the perennial issue of teacher shortage.
Education analysts often say the nation faces a looming teacher shortage. Growing enrollment and the retirement of baby-boom teachers will aggravate the need, as will a new federal law that bans unqualified teachers.
But this year in New York City, the shortage mostly disappeared, despite the difficult conditions in many urban schools. Qualified teachers flocked to New York for starting salaries of $39,000 a year, up from $32,000 in 2001. Those with experience elsewhere started as high as $61,000. Certified teachers left parochial schools, the suburbs and other professions to work for the city. A slow economy helped by offering college graduates fewer options in the private sector.
New York's experience suggests there never was a shortage, only an unwillingness of qualified teachers to work at previous pay levels. This will come as no surprise to economists, who say that real shortages are rare in a market economy. At the right price, supply grows to meet demand. There might have been a temporary real shortage if there were no qualified teachers willing to work at any price. But this was never the case.
Nationwide, only about two-thirds of new education graduates take teaching jobs. Of those who do teach, nearly one-third quit within five years. Although some may have been unsuited for the role, many leave education because they get better offers elsewhere. So there is a big pool of qualified teachers out there, ready to re-enter the profession when the price is right.