3.
PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AND PAY
Teachers’ salaries
teachers’ salaries represent the largest share of expenditure
and investment in formal education and can have a great
impact on the structure of the teacher workforce and the
quality of teaching. the education sector competes with
other sectors for the best-qualified employees. teachers’
salaries may strongly influence graduates’ choice to join
the teaching profession, and teachers’ choice to stay in
their job. attractive teachers’ salaries hence help sustain
the supply of highly-skilled teachers in the face of an ageing
teacher workforce and/or a growing school-age population,
and thus ensure that those with the greatest competencies
for teaching choose their career path accordingly (oecD,
2016).
In order to compare teachers’ salaries, the analysis has
to account for the type and level of education, whether
primary, lower secondary or upper secondary school
teachers. the data presented here compare the starting,
mid-career and maximum statutory gross salaries of
lower secondary teachers with typical qualifications in
public institutions. the comparison comes with a caveat
as international comparisons should consider that
statutory salaries are just one, albeit major, component
of teachers’ compensation. variations between countries
in social benefits, both employers’ and employees’ social
contributions, differences in taxation as well as bonuses and
allowances can result in differences in total compensation.
moreover, teachers’ salaries have not been adjusted for
differences in contractual working hours and holidays that
may be relevant for national and international comparisons.
Still, these data can provide an indication of differences in
the returns to teaching experience in oecD countries.
teachers’ salaries increase with their level of experience.
on average, teachers’ annual statutory salaries in oecD
countries after 15 years of experience are at 44,407 USD
in 2014. there are great differences in salaries across
countries: in luxembourg, teachers earn about 113,000 USD
per year, while they earn less than 20,000 USD in Hungary,
the czech republic and the Slovak republic. Statutory
salary increases for teachers throughout their career also
vary considerably. While the difference between salaries
at the bottom and the top of the scale is about 58,000 USD
in luxembourg possible increases in teachers’ salaries are
below 10,000 USD in norway, Denmark, the Slovak republic,
turkey and the czech republic.
In oecD countries with available data, teachers are paid
on average 91% of the earnings of employees with tertiary
education. In seven oecD countries, teachers’ salaries are
higher than the earnings of tertiary-educated workers, with
mexico being the front-runner, where teachers’ salaries are
74% higher. Salaries for teachers are virtually the same
as for tertiary-educated workers in Greece, Germany and
Switzerland. Salaries are lower than the tertiary educated
average wage for teachers in 21 oecD countries. For example,
in the Slovak republic and the czech republic teachers are
paid less than half of the earnings of employees with a
tertiary degree.
112
Methodology and definitions
Statutory salaries refer to scheduled salaries
according to official pay scales. the salaries reported
are gross (total sum paid by the employer before tax)
less the employer’s contribution to social security and
pension (according to existing salary scales). they are
for a full-time teacher with typical qualifications at
the beginning of the teacher career, after 15 years of
teaching experience and at the maximum annual
salary (top of the scale). Statutory salaries as reported
in this indicator must be distinguished from actual
expenditures on wages by governments and from
teachers’ average salaries. moreover, this indicator is
not directly comparable to the data on compensation
of employees in central/federal government presented
in this chapter.
Gross teachers’ salaries were converted to USD using
PPPs for private consumption from the OECD National
Accounts Statistics database.
teachers’ typical qualifications refer to the level
of qualifications that teachers typically have (i.e.
the qualifications held by the largest proportion of
teachers in a given year). the typical qualifications
may include certificates and qualifications obtained
while in the teaching profession that go beyond
minimum qualifications. the definition varies by
country. Please see Box D3.2 of Education at a Glance
2016 for further details.
the relative salary indicator is taken from table
D3.2b of Education at a Glance 2016 (online). teachers’
salaries represent statutory salaries after 15 years of
work experience. earnings for workers with tertiary
education are average earnings for full-time, full-year
workers aged 25-64 with an education at ISceD 5/6/7
or 8 level.
Further reading
oecD (2016), Education at a Glance 2016: OECD Indicators,
oecD, Paris. DoI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2016-en.
Figure notes
Belgium is presented as Belgium (Fr) and Belgium (Fl). the United
Kingdom is presented as england and Scotland. Data are actual
base salaries for the United States.
3.27: Data not available for estonia, Iceland and latvia, and for salary
after 15 years of experience for Switzerland. Data are actual base
salaries for 2013 for Sweden.
3.28: Data not available for estonia, Iceland, Japan, latvia and Sweden.
Data are for 2013 rather than 2014 for Finland and France.
Information on data for Israel: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888932315602.
Government at a Glance 2017 © oecD 2017
 3. PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AND PAY
Teachers’ salaries

3.27. Teachers’ statutory salaries, based on typical qualifications, in lower secondary education
in public institutions (2014)
Salary after 15 years of experience Salary at top of scale Starting salary
USD PPPs
160 000

140 000

120 000

100 000

80 000

60 000

40 000

20 000

0
X
U
D
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L
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E
BR

BR
IR

CH
PO
PR

CH
NZ

CZ
AU

SW

IT
ES

GR
AU
DN
LU

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FR
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la NO

HU
NL

JP
CA

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Source: OECD (2016), Education at a Glance 2016: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2016-en.
12 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888933532504

3.28. Ratio of teachers’ salaries to the earnings of tertiary-educated workers (2014)

2

0
N
E

)
S

D
CD

L
l.)
C

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)
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E
R
BR

BR
an CH

NZ

IR

CH

PO
PR

CZ
IT

AU
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AU

DN
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FR
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CA

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Source: OECD (2016), Education at a Glance 2016: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2016-en.
12 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888933532523

Government at a Glance 2017 © oecD 2017 113

 From:
Government at a Glance 2017

Access the complete publication at:

https://doi.org/10.1787/gov_glance-2017-en

Please cite this chapter as:

OECD (2017), “Teachers' salaries”, in Government at a Glance 2017, OECD Publishing, Paris.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1787/gov_glance-2017-35-en

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