EDUCATION INDICATORS: An International Perspective

Indicator 40: Teacher Salaries

Teacher salaries are a measure of teachers' standard of living and reflect what society is willing to pay for the direct work of education. Expressed in units of a common currency, they reflect the cost of teachers in an absolute sense, irrespective of a nation's wealth and the resources it can devote to teaching.* Teacher salaries relative to GDP per capita allow for comparisons among countries with wide income disparities. A simple index is created by dividing a teacher salary figure by a country's GDP per capita and multiplying by 100. If the index equals 100, a teacher is paid the same as the per capita GDP. Expressed in this manner, the indicator examines what each country spends on its teachers relative to its ability to pay for their services. For example, a poor country with lower teacher salaries than those of other nations may actually be devoting a larger share of its available resources to teachers than wealthier countries.

Sidebar: Teacher salaries are not a clear-cut marker of teacher compensation /*

At both starting and maximum salary levels, primary and lower secondary school teachers in the United States had among the highest average salaries of all countries for which data were available when salaries were viewed in absolute terms (in constant U.S. dollars). To illustrate, the 1992 average salary of the primary school teachers at the maximum salary level was higher in the United States than it was in all of the countries reported except Japan, Austria, and Portugal. At the lower secondary level, the starting salaries of U.S. teachers were among the highest in absolute terms, at $21,787, along with those of teachers from Spain ($22,964) and Germany ($27,444).
However, U.S. primary and lower secondary school teachers did not fare as well when the salary was viewed relative to GDP per capita. All of the G-7 countries with available data equaled or exceeded the United States on this measure (at both starting and maximum salary levels), as did most of the remaining countries.
The ratio of teacher salary to per capita GDP varied considerably across the countries presented. To illustrate, the ratio of starting salary for primary school teachers to per capita GDP ranged from 84 in Sweden to 188 in Turkey.

*The statement is accurate as long as currencies are converted using purchasing power parity (PPP) rates rather than market exchange rates. PPP rates isolate the current, relative domestic purchasing powers of different currencies and are the rates used to convert the figures presented here.

Table 40a: Teacher salaries in U.S. dollars,1 by education level, career point, and country: 1992


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
			Primary			   Lower secondary
			-------			   ---------------
Country		Starting	Maximum		Starting	Maximum
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G-72
Germany        $23,627         $32,464         $27,444         $36,119
Italy		18,161		27,852		19,708		30,927
Japan3		17,700		43,300		17,700		43,300
United Kingdom	16,551		34,081		16,551		39,259
(England & Wales)
United States   21,240          35,394          21,787          37,146
Other
Austria		17,309		38,962		18,415		42,448
Belgium		17,531		28,582		17,955		31,308
Finland 	17,481		22,046		20,033		25,677
Ireland		17,748		32,624		17,748		32,624
Netherlands	16,819		30,969		16,855		33,454
New Zealand	14,289		20,882		15,108		21,950
Norway		17,436		21,336		17,436		21,336
Portugal	13,784		36,078		13,784		36,078
Spain		22,964		30,632		22,964		30,632
Sweden		13,999		18,099		15,699		19,698
Turkey           6,994          12,409           7,053          12,409
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1/ Teacher salaries were converted to U.S. dollars using purchasing power parities (PPPs).
2/ No data available for Canada and France

Table 40b: Ratio of teacher salary to per capita GDP,1 by education level, career point,
and country: 1992


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
		  		Primary	 		    Lower secondary   
       			-----------------------		-----------------------
Country			Starting	Maximum		Starting	Maximum
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
G-72
Germany			116		159		134		177
Italy			104		159		113		177
Japan3                   93             228              93             228
United Kingdom		101		209		101		240
(England & Wales)
United States            91             152              94             160
Other
Austria                  96             215             102             235
Belgium                  96             157              99             172
Finland			120		152		139		177
Ireland			143		263		143		263
Netherlands              99             182              99             197
New Zealand              99             145             105             152
Norway                   98             120              98             120
Portugal		141		369		141		369
Sweden                   84             109              95             119
Spain			179		238		179		238
Turkey			188		333		189		333
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1/ The ratio of teacher salary to per capita GDP was computed by dividing the teacher salary figure by the
GDP per capita and multiplying by 100.
2/ No data available for Canada and France.
3/1991 data.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Center for Educational Research and Innovation, International Indicators Project, 1995.

Figure 40: Ratio of teacher salary to GDP per capita, by education level, career point, and G-7 country:1,2 1992

1/ No data available for Canada and France.
2/ Countries are sorted in ascending order by ratio of primary teachers' starting salary to GDP per capita.
3/ 1991 data.

NOTE: A value of 100 indicates that teachers are paid the same as GDP per capita.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Center for Educational Research and Innovation International Indicators Project, 1995.

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