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Teacher Wages in South Africa: How Attractive is the Teaching Profession?

Author

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  • Paula Armstrong

    (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch)

Abstract

This paper investigates the state of teacher pay in the South African labour market by comparing the remuneration received by teachers with that received by their non-teaching counterparts. It makes use of wage data from the Labour Force Surveys spanning 2000 to 2007, and 2010. This enables us to investigate the impact of the Occupation Specific Dispensation introduced in 2008 on the age-wage profile of the teaching profession. Remuneration is compared across educational attainment levels, years of experience and across age groups. A Lemieux Decomposition is used to determine what the distribution of teacher wages would look like if teachers were remunerated according to the same structure as non-teachers. It is found that the teaching profession is relatively unattractive to individuals at the top end of the skills distribution in the South African labour market, the result of which may be lower quality candidates entering the teaching profession.

Suggested Citation

  • Paula Armstrong, 2014. "Teacher Wages in South Africa: How Attractive is the Teaching Profession?," Working Papers 08/2014, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers213
    as

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    File URL: https://www.ekon.sun.ac.za/wpapers/2014/wp082014/wp-08-2014.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2014
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Lemieux, 2002. "Decomposing changes in wage distributions: a unified approach," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(4), pages 646-688, November.
    2. Emiliana Vegas, 2005. "Incentives to Improve Teaching : Lessons from Latin America," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7265.
    3. Martin Gustafsson & Firoz Patel, 2009. "Managing the teacher pay system: What the local and international data are telling us," Working Papers 26/2009, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    4. Alejandra Mizala & Pilar Romaguera, 2004. "Teachers’ Salary Structure and Incentives in Chile," Documentos de Trabajo 193, Centro de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Chile.
    5. Emiliana Vegas & Ilana Umansky, 2005. "Improving Teaching and Learning through Effective Incentives : What Can We Learn from Education Reforms in Latin America?," World Bank Publications - Reports 8694, The World Bank Group.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Gabrielle Wills, 2015. "A profile of the labour market for school principals in South Africa: Evidence to inform policy," Working Papers 12/2015, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    education; wage differentials by occupation; wage level and structure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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