Teachers' salaries
Sep 27th 2007
From The Economist print edition
How much do rich countries value their schoolteachers? Wages are the largest single cost in education. If earnings from teaching are high compared with average incomes, then claims about the lofty value placed on education may have some substance. A new report from the OECD provides a useful gauge, by calculating primary teachers' pay relative to GDP per head. On this basis, teachers attract a premium over average incomes of around 25% in the OECD. Teaching in Turkey and South Korea has a very high status, with earnings more than double the average income per head. In Germany and Japan teachers are high up the pay scale, but they are somewhat less valued in Italy, France and America.
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