Maine Teachers Make 10.5% Less Than Others With Bachelor’s Degree
There's a lot of focus on teachers right now, because they are about to become front line workers. Unfortunatley, they've been underpaid for years.
There's a new report by Smartest Dollar looking at teacher salaries in the United States. They found what teachers could have already told you. They make, collectively in the United States, 15.7 percent less than all full-time workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher. They ranked states according to the pay gap between teachers and all full-time workers with bachelor’s degrees.
In Maine, teachers made about 10.5% less than all full-time workers with bachelor's degrees.
The study shows that teacher's salaries have been pretty flat since the 1980's! They also earn significantly less money that other professions with similar educational backgrounds. Arizona and Oklahoma have the largest teacher pay gap - nearly 40%!
Right now teachers are about to balance taking care your your kids, teaching your kids and making sure everyone is safe. If this pandemic has taught us anything, it's that teachers are way more important than they have ever gotten credit for. Their pay should reflect that!