Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Economics 101 for Teachers
We hear it time and time again—teachers aren’t paid enough. The more romantic say you can’t pay them enough. We’re regaled with anecdotal evidence of how a teacher’s pay comes up short, especially from teachers unions such as with the recent Penn Trafford, North Hills, and the Pittsburgh City School contract negotiations. However, light has been shed on the generosity of teacher pay in Pennsylvania.
The American Federation of Teachers ranks Pennsylvania ninth in average teacher salary across the nation ($52,460). This fact has not been lost on candidates for positions in our schools. A recent newspaper report noted that one school district had over 2,000 applications for 83 vacancies; another reported that for every one vacancy, they can expect to receive 200 resumes. One superintendent, commenting on applications, “(w)e are getting them in droves…whether there are openings or not.”
Economists will say that when price is too high, the quantity supplied will be greater than the quantity demanded. This is the situation with teachers in Pennsylvania: the high level of salaries has given us a condition where the quantity supplied (teachers) is exceeding the quantity demanded (teaching jobs). In a market that is free to correct these imbalances, prices would begin to fall to reduce the quantity supplied and increase the quantity demanded. However, given the strong handed nature of the teachers’ union in Pennsylvania, this is not allowed to happen.
How many other occupations can boast of such a surplus? How many other occupations have a following that urges employers to give them what they want? Those who advocate that teachers are underpaid often think with their hearts and not their heads. To which we say a little economics lesson can provide a lot of illumination.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/westmoreland/s_437165.html
The American Federation of Teachers ranks Pennsylvania ninth in average teacher salary across the nation ($52,460). This fact has not been lost on candidates for positions in our schools. A recent newspaper report noted that one school district had over 2,000 applications for 83 vacancies; another reported that for every one vacancy, they can expect to receive 200 resumes. One superintendent, commenting on applications, “(w)e are getting them in droves…whether there are openings or not.”
Economists will say that when price is too high, the quantity supplied will be greater than the quantity demanded. This is the situation with teachers in Pennsylvania: the high level of salaries has given us a condition where the quantity supplied (teachers) is exceeding the quantity demanded (teaching jobs). In a market that is free to correct these imbalances, prices would begin to fall to reduce the quantity supplied and increase the quantity demanded. However, given the strong handed nature of the teachers’ union in Pennsylvania, this is not allowed to happen.
How many other occupations can boast of such a surplus? How many other occupations have a following that urges employers to give them what they want? Those who advocate that teachers are underpaid often think with their hearts and not their heads. To which we say a little economics lesson can provide a lot of illumination.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/westmoreland/s_437165.html
