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2009 Job Outlook for Teachers
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Job Outlook for K-12 Teachers
Employment of preschool, kindergarten, elementary, middle, and secondary school teachers is projected to grow at a rate average with other professions. Job prospects are particularly favorable for teachers in high-demand fields like math, science, and bilingual education, or in less desirable urban or rural school districts.
How Employment of Teachers Will Change
Employment of school teachers is expected to grow by 12 percent until 2016. This growth will create 479,000 additional teacher positions, more than all but a few occupations.
Through 2016, overall student enrollments in elementary, middle, and secondary schools—a key factor in the demand for teachers—are expected to rise more slowly than in the past as children of the baby boom generation leave the school system. Projected enrollments will vary by region. Fast-growing states in the South and West—led by Nevada, Arizona, Texas, and Georgia—will experience the largest enrollment increases. Enrollments in the Midwest are expected to hold relatively steady, while those in the Northeast are expected to decline. Teachers who are geographically mobile and who obtain licensure in more than one subject should have a distinct advantage in finding a job.
The number of teachers employed is dependent on State and local expenditures for education and on the enactment of legislation to increase the quality and scope of public education. At the Federal level, there has been a large increase in funding for education, particularly for the hiring of qualified teachers in lower income areas. Also, some States are instituting programs to improve early childhood education, such as offering full day kindergarten and universal preschool. These programs, along with projected higher enrollment growth for preschool age children, will create many new jobs for preschool teachers, which are expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations.
Continue on the next page: The Job Market for Teachers
jennr74
2 months ago
2 comments
Same here in NY/Long Island. This year there were many layoffs, and in NYC there's a hiring freeze. Many teachers were excessed, and still don't have jobs.
ccmccartyspencer
2 months ago
2 comments
not that this helps but I don't feel so alone now. I am in North Carolina and there are several counties for which I am appyling and the main county where I will be living (Wake County) was on a hiring freeze until a month ago and there are still no jobs and I can't even get my subbing application processed!! I have a north carolina and Mass teaching degree and my bachelors degree from Wheelock College in Boston MA. I think it is a crime that there are advertised jobs when most of us are having a tough tome as it is! i accepted a job as a preschool teacher until i can get something anything else!
shelngav
2 months ago
2 comments
I have to agree with most of the posters here. I am in California and THERE ARE NO JOBS!!! I have seen a few math and science, but no English...one of the critical areas now with all the ELLs. I have applied all over California and to many other states, even the Virgin Islands. What I am seeing over and over again, no matter where I look for a position, is that Special Ed Teachers are needed everywhere. I am looking into going back to get my Master's in SpEd. I am not holding my breath for all these retirements coming up. I also agree about the fact they are still advertising to go into teaching jobs with no jobs to be had. That, to me, is criminal! All about money for the universities and more of us fighting for a job. I just don't know what to think anymore. This is my second year with no job and I have applied everywhere.
Momof4Js
2 months ago
10 comments
Come on! How can this be? I'm in California and there are no jobs for teachers or counselors. I have two credentials and a masters degree. I applied for a job and heard from insiders at that district that there were 150 applications submitted in 12 hours! In Fullerton alone (where I live) , there were two openings for primary grades. They had 1500 applications submitted for these jobs.
jacknapier
2 months ago
30 comments
the reason this article is false is because it's based on "data" from or approved by the government.
sonyawilson
2 months ago
2 comments
I wish that this article translatted into me getting a teaching job! I have had a masters degree for 2 years now and moved from Ohio to Florida to find a pre-k through 3rd grade job but Florida is not hiring! Any suggestions? I have thought about going back to college to become a speech language pathologist but am not sure that I want to have 2 masters degrees when one is getting me the great quote- you are very well educated but not experienced enough! If you have any thoughts let me know!
elz
3 months ago
2 comments
I also find this article to be false. I pursued teacher certification for New Mexico. I have not be able to find a job.
annechen101
3 months ago
2 comments
I am certified to teach math in high school and middle school. I even taught Algebra during the summer at Cholla Magnet High School in Tucson, Arizona, so I could easily find a job. I have not find a job yet. Why is it so hard to find a job in Tucson?
Trunks
4 months ago
2 comments
If I only believed this... I am certified in elementary and secondary education in math no doubt and can't find a job in Arizona. I started to feel better reading this then I realized it's July 26th and the school year starts next week for most districts.
qirklin
4 months ago
10 comments
I think the facts are there...it's just a generalization of the nation as a whole. Common mistakes that everyone makes from time to time is that we tend to look around us in our "small world" and generalize that to the nation as a whole. Maybe there will be an increase in demand...just not in your area.
unchienne
4 months ago
2 comments
This is such a load of feel-good crap. I'm a teacher...and currently unemployed. Chalk another victim up to rampant layoffs. Why encourage more people to go into this field when the ones who are already certified can't even find jobs? Schools have confided in me (on the scant few interviews I was able to snag) that they are swamped with applications. One rural county commented that they averaged 10 applications for each position...until this year. That number literally jumped into the 100's. Recent graduates are seeking employment in other markets b/c they can't find jobs. I have a couple of friends who have been pounding the pavement for over a year with no results. One finally took a position in Texas, and he's in a so-called "critical need" area: math. There's a hiring freeze at most, if not all, schools. I mean, please! Who comes up with this stuff? They need to get the facts straight.
kmfelder55
6 months ago
62 comments
ok, If this is true can they tell us who what when where and how soon? I am told many states laying people off! Teachers are fighting in Miami, Fl for money, and days off without pay...I am so confused. I really do not think anyone knows what is going on.
sweetiedarlng
8 months ago
2 comments
Seriously, who put together this projection? I have to agree with the majority of the people on this board. NOBODY is hiring right now, and they don't really know when they will start again. I'm in Oregon and sweating bullets because it is entirely possible that not only will they slice days off of the school calender, but they might close some schools and lay off teachers. I'm on a temporary contract because I was hired so late last year, so I would naturally be the one let go.
dhastings
8 months ago
210 comments
I would agree. Schools are looking for cheap labor not experience.
theprof
8 months ago
4 comments
After being RICE'D (Reduction in Contract Employees) last year, I find that even though I have K-12 certification in English with a master's degree, the opportunities are very limited right now in the tri-state, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut area. Although this site claims that English teachers are being hired in most inner city areas, I beg to differ. Currently, administrators prefer hiring newly graduated college seniors so that they can pay the lowest step on the salary schedule. I'm teaching college level courses and collecting unemployment just to make ends meet. Thank goodness I never dropped my college course teaching since it has proven more reliable than K-12 employment!