Teachers Are 3 Times More Likely to Need a Second Job to Make Ends Meet

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Jan 6, 3:15AM EST · Published Jul 2, 8:40AM EDT

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Teachers Are 3 Times More Likely to Need a Second Job to Make Ends Meet — © FatCamera / Getty Images

One frequent criticism of the U.S. school system, particularly public schools, is that teachers are paid less than people in many other professions. New research shows some teachers cannot make ends meet financially. One in six has to take a second job to balance their personal books.

Pew Research looked at teachers in public elementary and secondary schools. Sixteen percent had to take a second job in the break before the 2015–2016 school year. That is about three times the national average for all jobs. Some of the Pew conclusions were based on reviews of data from the National Center for Education Statistics and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Additionally, Pew found that second jobs produced, on average, 7% of teacher income during the summer and 9% during the school year. Teachers with incomes at the low end of the spectrum of pay were the most likely to take second jobs. The authors of the survey wrote, “Certain groups of teachers are more likely than others to work a summer job outside the school system, including those with less teaching experience and who are younger – groups that tend to have lower salaries.” Thirty-two percent of teachers with one year or less of experience took a second job.

The Economic Policy Institute think tank reports that teachers make 19% less than people with similar educations. When benefits are included, the figure is 11%. The authors of the study, EPI Distinguished Fellow Lawrence Mishel and UC Berkeley Economist and EPI Research Associate Sylvia Allegretto, looked at the potential crisis of the pay gap as its effects the ability to build a solid teacher workforce. They were quoted as saying, “Deteriorating teacher pay is not just a fairness issue. Eliminating the teacher pay penalty is crucial to building the teacher workforce we need. In order to recruit and retain talented teachers, school districts need to address the inadequacy of teacher pay.”

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These observations support those who believe that many people who could be teachers will pick other professions. Even with the pay gap with other professions, teaching is not among the lowest paying jobs in America, which tend to be among people who are “unskilled.”

The recent wave of teacher strikes that swept the nation last year and since in states like West Virginia, Arizona, and Oklahoma demonstrates that in some states compensation structures and working conditions for teachers are a serious issue — and these are the states where it’s best (and worst) to be a teacher.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.