After School: An Examination of the Career Paths and Earnings of Former Teachers

Abstract

We use a novel linkage of school district administrative data to Internal Revenue Service records to study educators’ post-exit career outcomes. The majority of leavers remain in education and mean earnings are slightly below pre-exit earnings even 8 years later. However, these average changes conceal wide variation in outcomes. Roughly 20% of leavers are unemployed, and the bottom quartile of employed leavers earn less than $20,000 annually. At the same time, earnings among the top quartile of employed leavers are higher than those of nearly all stayers, sometimes exceeding $100,000. Post-exit employment and earnings declines are associated with the presence of children or a high-earning spouse for voluntary female leavers, suggesting a role for family-conscious policies for teacher retention.