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Digest of Education Statistics
1996 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 80.Estimated average annual salary of instructional staff\1\ in public elementary and secondary schools and average annual earnings of full-time employees in all industries: 1929-30 to 1995-96

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             |      Current dollars           |           Constant 1995-96 dollars\2\
             |--------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------
             |  Average    |Earnings per full-|  Average    |Earnings per full-| Ratio of instruc-
 School year |  salary of  |  time employee   |  salary of  |  time employee   |tional staff salary
             |instructional|working for wages |instructional|working for wages |to earnings for all
             |    staff    |   or salary\3\   |    staff    |   or salary\3\   |full-time employees
-------------|-------------|------------------|-------------|------------------|-------------------
      1      |      2      |    3             |      4      |        5         |         6
-------------|-------------|------------------|-------------|------------------|-------------------
1929-30 .....|      $1,420 |           $1,386 |     $12,839 |          $12,532 |              1.02
1931-32 .....|       1,417 |            1,198 |      15,211 |           12,860 |              1.18
1933-34 .....|       1,227 |            1,070 |      14,340 |           12,506 |              1.15
1935-36 .....|       1,283 |            1,160 |      14,449 |           13,064 |              1.11
1937-38 .....|       1,374 |            1,224 |      14,844 |           13,224 |              1.12
             |             |                  |             |                  |
1939-40 .....|       1,441 |            1,282 |      15,958 |           14,197 |              1.12
1941-42 .....|       1,507 |            1,576 |      14,958 |           15,643 |              0.96
1943-44 .....|       1,728 |            2,030 |      15,348 |           18,030 |              0.85
1945-46 .....|       1,995 |            2,272 |      16,926 |           19,276 |              0.88
1947-48 .....|       2,639 |            2,692 |      17,529 |           17,881 |              0.98
             |             |                  |             |                  |
1949-50 .....|       3,010 |            2,930 |      19,670 |           19,147 |              1.03
1951-52 .....|       3,450 |            3,322 |      20,315 |           19,561 |              1.04
1953-54 .....|       3,825 |            3,628 |      22,013 |           20,879 |              1.05
1955-56 .....|       4,156 |            3,924 |      23,926 |           22,590 |              1.06
1957-58 .....|       4,702 |            4,276 |      25,482 |           23,173 |              1.10
             |             |                  |             |                  |
1959-60 .....|       5,174 |            4,632 |      27,252 |           24,397 |              1.12
1961-62 .....|       5,700 |            4,928 |      29,349 |           25,374 |              1.16
1963-64 .....|       6,240 |            5,373 |      31,312 |           26,962 |              1.16
1965-66 .....|       6,935 |            5,838 |      33,637 |           28,316 |              1.19
1967-68 .....|       7,630 |            6,444 |      34,723 |           29,326 |              1.18
             |             |                  |             |                  |
1969-70 .....|       9,047 |            7,334 |      37,066 |           30,048 |              1.23
1970-71 .....|       9,698 |            7,815 |      37,783 |           30,447 |              1.24
1971-72 .....|      10,213 |            8,334 |      38,411 |           31,344 |              1.23
1972-73 .....|      10,634 |            8,858 |      38,445 |           32,025 |              1.20
1973-74 .....|      11,254 |            9,647 |      37,356 |           32,022 |              1.17
             |             |                  |             |                  |
1974-75 .....|      12,167 |           10,420 |      36,357 |           31,137 |              1.17
1975-76 .....|      13,124 |           11,218 |      36,625 |           31,306 |              1.17
1976-77 .....|      13,840 |           11,991 |      36,495 |           31,619 |              1.15
1977-78 .....|      14,698 |           12,829 |      36,318 |           31,699 |              1.15
1978-79 .....|      15,764 |           13,851 |      35,616 |           31,294 |              1.14
             |             |                  |             |                  |
1979-80 .....|      16,715 |           15,095 |      33,322 |           30,092 |              1.11
1980-81 .....|      18,404 |           16,495 |      32,881 |           29,470 |              1.12
1981-82 .....|      20,327 |           17,818 |      33,429 |           29,303 |              1.14
1982-83 .....|      21,641 |           18,883 |      34,124 |           29,774 |              1.15
1983-84 .....|      23,005 |           19,749 |      34,980 |           30,029 |              1.16
             |             |                  |             |                  |
1984-85 .....|      24,666 |           20,626 |      36,093 |           30,181 |              1.20
1985-86 .....|      26,362 |           21,518 |      37,493 |           30,603 |              1.23
1986-87 .....|      27,706 |           22,432 |      38,549 |           31,211 |              1.24
1987-88 .....|      29,219 |           23,467 |      39,037 |           31,352 |              1.25
1988-89 .....|      30,850 |           24,502 |      39,396 |           31,289 |              1.26
             |             |                  |             |                  |
1989-90 .....|      32,638 |           25,555 |      39,781 |           31,148 |              1.28
1990-91 .....|      34,412 |           26,668 |      39,769 |           30,820 |              1.29
1991-92 .....|      35,550 |           27,829 |      39,809 |           31,163 |              1.28
1992-93 .....|      36,454 |           28,937 |      39,585 |           31,422 |              1.26
1993-94 .....|      37,383 |              --- |      39,568 |              --- |               ---
1994-95 .....|      38,501 |              --- |      39,616 |              --- |               ---
1995-96 .....|      39,662 |              --- |      39,662 |              --- |               ---
-------------|-------------|------------------|-------------|------------------|-------------------

\1\Includes supervisors, principals, classroom teachers, and other instructional staff.

\2\Based on the Consumer Price Index prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor.

\3\Calendar-year data from the U.S. Department of Commerce have been converted to a school-year basis by averaging the two appropriate calendar years in each case.

---Data not available.

NOTE.--Some data have been revised from previously published figures.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Statistics of State School Systems, and unpublished data; National Education Association, Estimates of School Statistics, 1995-96, (Copyright @ 1996 by the National Education Association. All rights reserved.), unpublished data; and U.S. Department of Commerce, Survey of Current Business, July and August issues. (This table was prepared July 1996.)


1996 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest