The Competitiveness of Teacher Salary Levels in the Labor Market Rob Weil American Federation Teachers CPRE - 11/30/01

Research Report issued by AFT in October 2001: Teacher Salaries, Expenditures and Federal Revenue in School Districts Serving the Nation’s Largest Cities, to

Over the past decade: Urban teacher salaries grew at an average of 3.2% (significantly helped by 5.4 % in , trend was less than 3%) All workers* salaries grew at 3.7 Gross domestic product grew at 5.3% *non-military, regardless of industry, education or professional status

Over the past decade: Beginning teacher salaries grew 3.2% All other college grads, 3.9% Beginning teachers 17% behind Beginning teachers 30% behind

Growth Teachers $24,819 $30,700 24% Other Grads $29,029 $39,889 37% Difference $ 4,210 $ 9, % Difference % 17% 30% *in the 196 cities that had a population of 100,000 in 1990

Spending on K-12 education grew from $206B to $353B An average of 5.7% per year Annual enrollment increases, 1.1% Net spending growth, 4.6% US Inflation, 2.6% Over the past decade: The gap between school expenditure growth and teacher salaries was the largest at the end of the decade, the period of teacher shortage. From , public school expenditures outpaced teacher salaries by 22.6% (adjusted for student growth)