Trends in the teacher compensation penalty, 1994–2015
| Compensation to W-2 wage ratio | Teacher wage penalty, benefit advantage, and compensation penalty | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professionals | Teachers | Wage penalty | Benefit advantage* | Compensation penalty | ||
| 1994** | n.a. | n.a. | -1.8% | 1.7% | -0.1% | |
| 2004 | 1.23 | 1.26 | -11.4% | 1.8% | -9.6% | |
| 2007 | 1.24 | 1.29 | -13.0% | 3.3% | -9.7% | |
| 2012 | 1.26 | 1.34 | -14.1% | 5.1% | -9.0% | |
| 2015 | 1.28 | 1.36 | -17.0% | 5.9% | -11.1% | |
| Percentage-point change | ||||||
| 1994–2004 | n.a. | n.a. | -9.6 | 0.0 | -9.6 | |
| 2004–2007 | 1.0 | 3.1 | -1.6 | 1.5 | -0.1 | |
| 2007–2012 | 2.3 | 5.1 | -1.1 | 1.8 | 0.7 | |
| 2012–2015 | 1.2 | 2.5 | -2.9 | 0.8 | -2.1 | |
| 2004–2015 | 4.5 | 10.7 | -5.6 | 4.1 | -1.5 | |
| 1994–2015 | n.a. | n.a. | -15.2 | 4.2 | -11.0 | |
* The benefit "bias," or the degree to which higher benefits offset the wage penalty.
** Because of discontinuities in occupational categories for both teachers and professionals, 1994 data are not comparable. See Allegretto, Corcoran, and Mishel (2008, Chapter 4).
Source: Author’s analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group data and Bureau of Labor Statistics Employer Costs for Employee Compensation data