Atlanta Teaching Jobs not Adding Up
There aren’t enough people available to fill a slew of Atlanta teaching jobs.
Public schools across the country are in desperate need of more math and science teachers. But some schools, including many in the metropolitan Atlanta area, are having problems filling vacancies. According to an article by WAGA, some schools are hiring teachers from other countries to fill vacancies.
For instance, a school board in Birmingham, Alabama, recently approved a measure to hire math and science teachers from the Philippines. This came only weeks after the same school system laid off dozens of American teachers, although officials said several of those teachers failed to meet federal standards.
Perhaps the biggest concern is that while many school districts are hiring workers from overseas, America’s unemployment rate is continuing to increase. The nation saw its unemployment rate increase from 8.9 percent to 9.4 percent during May. At the same time, many areas across the country are seeing decreases in the education and health services industry, which was once considered to be recession-proof.
Gwinnett County is the largest school district in Georgia, with an average enrollment of 110,075 students. And while that district has recruited foreign teachers in the past, officials have said those types of measures are no longer necessary because of the current economic downturn. Officials also say they plan to launch programs that will recruit and create positions for local teachers.
Despite the vacancies, the Atlanta area has managed to maintain a stable education industry. The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta area’s education and health services industry employed 268,500 workers during May, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 265,100 workers during April and a 2.8 percent increase from last year.
© 2012