Does it pay to be a teacher?

Summary

The pandemic has caused a surge in the number of people interested in teaching. However, each year more than 30,000 classroom teachers in England decide to leave the occupation. From an unmanageable workload, long hours and unrealistic expectations to a pay scale that doesn’t reward experience, poor senior leadership and lack of autonomy, there are many, potentially non-exclusive, reasons why a teacher might decide to resign. To investigate the role that earnings might play in the decision to resign, I use 27 years of labour force data to assess the likelihood that a teacher would be financially better off, for the remainder of their career, if they leave teaching.