Recruiting and retaining teachers in the UK: An analysis of graduate occupation choice from the 1960s to the 1990s

This paper examines the market for teachers in the UK from 1960 to 2002 using six graduate cohort data-sets. We find that, while there is no strong evidence that teachers are underpaid, the relative wages in teaching compared with alternative professions have a significant impact on the likelihood of graduates choosing to teach. This wage effect is strongest at times of low relative teachers' wages, or following a period of decline in those wages. It is also strongest for those individuals who have more recently graduated, and for men.