I step out of the country (the USA) and what do I find, a massive outbreak in news broadcasts on Teacher Layoffs. It seems outrageous. I was fortunate to find a map to demonstrate the disparities. Though it can be daunting, if you’re looking for a job it is your “golden ticket” if you know what I mean.
So, what does the analysis of this map tell us? It tells us where you ought not to search for a job, and where you ought to search for a job.
In California, Kansas, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia, and New Jersey there are likely to be so many lay offs and rehires of those laid off teachers, you’ll likely not find a teaching job in public education there unless you have a specialization no one else can beat. More than 5,000 teachers are being laid off in these states.
Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts teacher layoffs are in the range of 1,000 to 5,000 teachers state-wide. Again, with this number of layoffs it may be more challenging to find public school teaching jobs in these states.
Utah, Missouri, Hawaii and Pennsylvania have fewer layoffs, capping at roughly 1,000 (which may be due to natural causes of retirement and abdication. Jobs in these states may be easier to come by.
Now, if you’re serious about teaching and you wouldn’t mind moving. You’ll likely locate jobs in the following states with more ease (that is if you’re open to the newness of everything and the change of everything): Idaho, Nebraska, Minnesota, Mississippi, Tennessee, West Virginia, New Hampshire, and Maine. I can say I lived and worked in Tennessee. Even when I lost my job in December of 2010, there were job openings in the middle of the year.
In high school my teacher explained the Great Depression with such vividness I decided I was going to go to college and secure a job in which I could never get fired from. I chose teaching. And lo and behold we reach a recession/depression here in the USA and I can’t even find a job with all the years of my experience and education. After the that 1929 crash, life changed for everyone and life didn’t return to the manner with which it was lived. During this time, you have to remember things are not going to return to the way they once were. They have forever changed. I hope you, my reader, can see so clearly how important it will be for you to also change – make yourself aware of many new opportunities that are available. Think of the possibilities inside of the change. After all, you’re a teacher, that’s what you do for a living, you change lives.
Danver Chandler
