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Inside the US Jobs Report: Record-Low Black 

Unemployment

By Reuters

|

April 7, 2023, 

Inside the US Jobs Report: Record-Low Black Unemployment

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By Dan Burns and Howard Schneider

(Reuters) - The Black unemployment rate hit a record low in March, a milestone for a U.S. labor market that most policymakers and economists expect to begin cooling in the face of higher interest rates, jeopardizing those historic gains.

The Black unemployment rate tumbled to 5% last month from 5.7% in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday, perhaps the most notable data point in a report that at once displayed the resilience of the American job market but also the early signs of its vulnerability to the higher borrowing costs engineered by the Federal Reserve over the last year.

Only a month ago, Fed Chair Jerome Powell faced withering criticism from a band of progressive Democratic lawmakers who accused him of trying to orchestrate a slowdown in hiring that would put historically vulnerable populations - Blacks in particular - at the greatest risk of job losses.

The data for March shows that has not occurred, yet. The 0.7 percentage point decline in the African American unemployment rate was the largest since November 2021 and was led by Black women, for whom joblessness dropped to a record low 4.2%. The rate for Black men ticked up to 5.2% from February's record-low-matching 5.1%.

Moreover, the gap between jobless rates for whites and African Americans also narrowed to 1.8 percentage points, the lowest since the Labor Department began tracking it half a century ago.

That said, with the overall U.S. jobless rate edging back down to within a whisker of its lowest level since the 1960s, this may be as good as it gets. The question is whether such low rates and differentials hold relatively steady as the job market softens in the months ahead, as most expect, or whether the gains for Blacks, Hispanics and others erode more rapidly as they have done historically during economic downturns.

WARNING SIGNS

Indications of late-cycle behavior are starting to accumulate. Net flows into the labor market and the labor force participation rate are both improving, developments that research shows come along late in the employment cycle.

Employment in sectors often the most sensitive to cracking in the face of higher interest rates have begun flashing yellow.

For instance, construction employment, surprisingly resilient given the drop in housing starts since the Fed's rate hikes began just over a year ago, fell in March. And the manufacturing sector lost jobs as well on the heels of a decline in industrial production, one of the statistics watched closely for the onset of a recession.

The bulk of job growth is now coming from the areas that are proving most nettlesome for the Fed as a source of inflation, perhaps a sign that the central bank may feel compelled to tighten conditions even further to bring the pace of price increases down. Case in point: Not only did leisure and hospitality job gains lead overall private sector employment growth, the monthly pay increase across the sector, at 0.7%, was more than double the national average.

Such data again bring into focus the potential vulnerability of March's gains for Black workers. In every U.S. recession since the 1970s the Black unemployment rate has risen by at least 2 percentage points more than for whites, and often by far more than that.

(Reporting by Dan Burns and Howard Schneider; Editing by Paul Simao)

US adds a healthy 236,000 jobs despite Fed’s rate hikes

By PAUL WISEMAN

April 7, 2023

A hiring sign is displayed at a restaurant in Prospect Heights, Ill., Tuesday, April 4, 2023. On Friday, the U.S. government issued the March jobs report. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers added a solid 236,000 jobs in March, suggesting that the economy remains on solid footing despite the nine interest rate hikes the Federal Reserve has imposed over the past year in its drive to tame inflation.

The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, just above the 53-year low of 3.4% set in January.

At the same time, some of the details of Friday’s report from the Labor Department raised the possibility that inflationary pressures might be easing and that the Fed might soon decide to pause its rate hikes. Average hourly wages were up 4.2% from 12 months earlier, down sharply from a 4.6% year-over-year increase in February.

Measured month to month, wages rose 0.3% from February to March, a tick up from a mild 0.2% gain from January to February. But even that figure signaled a slowdown from average wage increases in the final months of 2022.

Last month’s job gain marked a moderation from the sizzling 326,000 that were added in February.

“Today’s report is a Goldilocks report,” said Daniel Zhao, lead economist at Glassdoor. “It’s hard to find a way it could have been better. We do see that the job market is cooling, but it’s still resilient.’’

In another sign that might reassure the Fed’s inflation fighters, a substantial 480,000 Americans began looking for work in March. Typically, the bigger the supply of job seekers, the less pressure employers feel to raise wages. The result can be an easing of inflation pressures.

The percentage of people who either have a job or are looking for one — the so-called labor force participation rate — reached 62.6% in March, the highest level in three years. And the share of working-age Americans — those ages 25 to 54 — who have jobs rose to 80.7%, the highest point since 2001.

“Americans, by and large, are looking for work and finding it,″ Zhao said.

In its report Friday, the government also revised down its estimate of job growth in January and February by a combined 17,000.

“The labor market continues to soften,” said Sinem Buber, an economist at the job firm ZipRecruiter. ”That should reduce inflationary pressures in the coming months and give the Federal Reserve greater confidence regarding the inflation outlook.″

Last month’s job growth was led by the leisure and hospitality category, which added 72,000. Among that sector’s industries, restaurants and bars gained 50,000.

State and local governments added 39,000, healthcare companies 34,000. But construction companies cut 9,000 jobs, that sector’s first such decline since January 2022. And factories reduced payrolls slightly for a second straight month, reflecting a slowdown in U.S. manufacturing.

Though unemployment remains higher for people of color than for white Americans, the unemployment rate for Black workers fell last month to 5% — the lowest jobless rate for African Americans in government records dating to 1972.

With job growth still brisk across the economy, many employers are still struggling to fill positions.

In North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Clark Twiddy said his family company, which sells property and helps homeowners rent to vacationers, still faces what he calls “the tightest job market of anyone’s lifetime.”

Twiddy & Co. has sharply raised entry-level pay for seasonal workers — it hires 500 to 600 a year — to $18-$20 an hour from $13-$14 in 2019.

Service companies like his, Twiddy said, have to treat employees as respectfully as they do customers, knowing that the best ones have ample job opportunities elsewhere.

“There’s no algorithm that cleans up a bathroom or a kitchen,” he said. “We have to pay more. We have to train more. We have to engage more.’’

For his 175 full-time employees, Twiddy has offered perks — from allowing flexible work-at-home schedules to taking the staff on group trips to Nashville and Las Vegas.

His business is still booming, thanks to Americans’ pent-up demand to take vacations. Despite his higher costs, he said, “I’m making more money at what I’m doing than I’ve ever done.”

More than two years of labor shortages have led some companies to turn to machines to try to improve efficiency. Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer and private employer, for example, has embarked on a major push toward automation.

By the 2026 fiscal year, the company says it expects roughly two-thirds of its stores to be served by automation, with a majority of items that are processed through its warehouses to move through automated facilities. The change will involve robotic forklifts that unload goods from trailers instead of having workers do the manual work. Walmart said such moves will require roles that demand less physical labor yet could provide higher pay.

Despite last month’s healthy job growth, the latest economic signs suggest that the economy is slowing, which would help cool inflation pressures. Manufacturing is weakening. America’s trade with the rest of the world is declining. And though restaurants, retailers and other services companies are still growing, they are doing so more slowly.

For Fed officials, taming inflation is Job One. They were slow to respond after prices started surging in the spring of 2021, concluding that it was only a temporary consequence of supply bottlenecks caused by the economy’s surprisingly explosive rebound from the pandemic recession.

Only in March 2022 did the Fed begin raising its benchmark rate from near zero. In the past year, though, it has raised rates more aggressively than it had since the 1980s to attack the worst inflation bout since then.

And as borrowing costs have risen, inflation has steadily eased. The latest year-over-year consumer inflation rate — 6% — is well below the 9.1% rate it reached last June. But it’s still considerably above the Fed’s 2% target.

The Labor Department on Thursday said it had adjusted the way it calculates how many Americans are filing for unemployment benefits. The tweak added nearly 100,000 jobless claims to its figures for the past two weeks and might explain why heavy layoffs in the tech industry this year had yet to show up on the unemployment rolls. The Fed has expressed hope that employers would ease wage pressures by advertising fewer vacancies rather than by cutting many existing jobs.

The March numbers are the last jobs report the Fed will see before its next meeting May 2-3. But its policymakers will gain a clearer view of inflationary pressures next week, when the Labor Department issues reports on prices at the consumer and wholesale levels.

Some economists are holding out hope that the economy can avoid a recession despite the ever-higher borrowing rates the Fed has been engineering.

“Today’s job market does not look like one that’s about to tip into recession,” Zhao said. “I wouldn’t bet against the job market.’’

___

AP Retail Writer Anne D’Innocenzio in New York contributed to this report.

Yields, expectations for rate hike rise after jobs report

By STAN CHOE

April 7, 2023

A man looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's stock prices at a securities firm on April 4, 2023 in Tokyo. Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher on Friday, April 7, ahead of a U.S. job market update that traders hope might encourage the Federal Reserve to ease off plans for more interest rate hikes.

(AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

NEW YORK (AP) — Yields rose in the U.S. bond market Friday following a highly anticipated report on the U.S. job market.

The U.S. stock market was closed in observance of Good Friday, as were many markets across Europe. That left the U.S. bond market as one of the few open to react to the latest jobs update, which showed hiring lost a bit more momentum than expected last month but largely remained resilient.

The data was so anticipated because it could offer a big clue for the Federal Reserve, which faces a tough decision on interest rates that will affect the entire economy. Should it keep raising rates in order to drive down inflation that’s still high? Or should it hold off given signs of a slowing economy and stress in the banking system caused by the past year’s barrage of rate hikes?

The immediate reaction from the bond market Friday seemed to lean toward another hike. Not only did yields rise for Treasurys, so did bets for the Fed to raise rates by another quarter of a percentage point in May at its next meeting.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 3.40% from 3.30% late Thursday, as of noon Eastern time, when bond trading was recommended to end. The two-year yield, which tends to move more on expectations for the Fed, rose to 3.96% from 3.83%.

Traders also are betting on a roughly two-in-three probability that the Fed will raise rates in May, according to data from CME Group. A day earlier, they saw roughly a coin flip’s chance that the Fed would make no move on rates, something that hasn’t happened in more than a year.

Friday’s jobs report showed that employers added 236,000 jobs last month, a slowdown from February’s 326,000 and slightly below economists’ expectations. Wages, meanwhile, grew 0.3% from February to match expectations. But year-over-year wage gains slowed to 4.2% from 4.6%.

A cooler job market is exactly what the Fed is trying to achieve. Raising rates is one of the Fed’s most effective ways to undercut inflation, but it’s a notoriously blunt tool that works only by slowing the entire economy. That raises the risk of a recession and hurts prices for stocks, bonds and other investments.

“The labor market is getting winded,” said Brian Jacobsen, senior investment strategist at Allspring Global Investments. “Payroll gains are still high, but the aggregate hours worked have fallen two months in a row. The payroll gains are not as broad-based as they used to be and hours are getting cut.”

Jacobsen said he doesn’t see reason for the Fed to hike rates based on the jobs report alone, and he said next week’s update on inflation may be more important. The government will offer the latest monthly update on prices consumers are paying on Wednesday. Economists expect it to show another slowdown, but for inflation to remain well above the Fed’s target.

Friday’s jobs report followed a string of reports on the economy this week that showed flagging momentum. A measure of health for the U.S. manufacturing industry contracted by its worst level since the summer of 2020, when the pandemic was wrecking the global economy. A separate measure of the U.S. services industries was weaker than expected, while employers posted fewer job openings across the country.

Many economists see a recession later this year as likely. But some say a narrow possibility still exists where the Fed could raise rates just enough to get inflation fully under control without causing a severe recession.

Also complicating things for the Fed is the widespread belief in the bond market that the central bank will have to cut interest rates later this year in order to prop up the economy.

Such cuts can act like steroids for financial markets and relax conditions for the economy, but they likewise would give inflation more oxygen. The Fed has so far consistently said it sees no rate cuts happening this year. It’s often cited the dangers of letting up on the fight against inflation too early.

“Below-trend job growth and a modest rise in the unemployment rate is what the Fed is aiming for, but the weakening labor market supports the recession narrative and reinforce markets expectations of rate cuts,” said EY Chief Economist Gregory Daco.

Before the release of the U.S. jobs report, stocks rose across much of Asia.

Stocks in Shanghai gained 0.5%, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.2% and the Kospi in Seoul rose 1.3%. Bangkok, Taiwan and Malaysia also gained.

___ AP Business Writer Joe McDonald contributed.

U.S. Employment Situation Summary

Technical information:  www.bls.gov/cps

                     THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION -- MARCH 2023

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 236,000 in March, and the unemployment rate changed little at 3.5 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

Employment continued to trend up in leisure and hospitality, government, professional and business services, and health care. 

This news release presents statistics from two monthly surveys. The household survey measures labor force status, including unemployment, by demographic characteristics.

The establishment survey measures nonfarm employment, hours, and earnings by industry. For more information about the concepts and statistical methodology used in these two  surveys, see the Technical Note. FOR ALL TABLES

Household Survey Data

Both the unemployment rate, at 3.5 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 5.8 million, changed little in March. These measures have shown little net movement since early 2022. (See table A-1.)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for Hispanics decreased to 4.6 percent in March, essentially offsetting an increase in the prior month. The  unemployment rates for adult men (3.4 percent), adult women (3.1 percent), teenagers (9.8 percent), Whites (3.2 percent), Blacks (5.0 percent), and Asians (2.8 percent) showed little or no change over the month. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)

Among the unemployed, the number of permanent job losers increased by 172,000 to 1.6 million in March, and the number of reentrants to the labor force declined by 182,000 to 1.7 million. (Reentrants are persons who previously worked but were not in the  labor force prior to beginning their job search.) (See table A-11.)

The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 1.1 million in March. These individuals accounted for 18.9 percent of all unemployed persons. (See table A-12.)

The labor force participation rate, at 62.6 percent, continued to trend up in March.The employment-population ratio edged up over the month to 60.4 percent. These  measures remain below their pre-pandemic February 2020 levels (63.3 percent and 61.1percent, respectively). (See table A-1.)

The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons was essentially unchanged at 4.1 million in March. These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs. (See table A-8.)

The number of persons not in the labor force who currently want a job was little changed at 4.9 million in March and has returned to its February 2020 level. These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the 4 weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job. (See table A-1.)

Among those not in the labor force who wanted a job, the number of persons marginally attached to the labor force was little changed at 1.3 million in March. These  individuals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months but had not looked for work in the 4 weeks preceding the  survey. The number of discouraged workers, a subset of the marginally attached who believed that no jobs were available for them, also was little changed over the monthat 351,000. (See Summary table A.)

Establishment Survey Data

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 236,000 in March, compared with the average monthly gain of 334,000 over the prior 6 months. In March, employment  continued to trend up in leisure and hospitality, government, professional and business services, and health care. (See table B-1.) 

Leisure and hospitality added 72,000 jobs in March, lower than the average monthly gain of 95,000 over the prior 6 months. Most of the job growth occurred in food services and drinking places, where employment rose by 50,000 in March. Employment in leisure and hospitality is below its pre-pandemic February 2020 level by 368,000, or 2.2 percent. 

Government employment increased by 47,000 in March, the same as the average monthly gain over the prior 6 months. Overall, employment in government is below its February 2020 level by 314,000, or 1.4 percent.

Employment in professional and business services continued to trend up in March (+39,000), in line with the average monthly growth over the prior 6 months (+34,000). Within the industry, employment in professional, scientific, and technical services continued its upward trend in March (+26,000). 

Over the month, health care added 34,000 jobs, lower than the average monthly gain of 54,000 over the prior 6 months. In March, job growth occurred in home health  care services (+15,000) and hospitals (+11,000). Employment continued to trend up in nursing and residential care facilities (+8,000). 

Employment in social assistance continued to trend up in March (+17,000), in line with the average monthly growth over the prior 6 months (+22,000). 

In March, employment in transportation and warehousing changed little (+10,000). Couriers and messengers (+7,000) and air transportation (+6,000) added jobs, while warehousing and storage lost jobs (-12,000). Employment in transportation and warehousing has shown little net change in recent months. 

Employment in retail trade changed little in March (-15,000). Job losses in building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers (-9,000) and in furniture, home furnishings, electronics, and appliance retailers (-9,000) were partially offset by a job gain in department stores (+15,000). Retail trade employment is little changed on net over the year. 

Employment showed little change over the month in other major industries, including mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; construction; manufacturing; wholesale trade; information; financial activities; and other services.  In March, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 9 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $33.18. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 4.2 percent. In March, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 9 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $28.50. (See tables B-3 and B-8.) 

The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls edged down by 0.1 hour to 34.4 hours in March. In manufacturing, the average workweek was unchanged at 40.3 hours, and overtime remained at 3.0 hours. The average workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private nonfarm payrolls was unchanged at 33.9 hours. (See tables B-2 and B-7.)

The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for January was revised down by 32,000, from +504,000 to +472,000, and the change for February was revised up by15,000, from +311,000 to +326,000. With these revisions, employment in January and February combined is 17,000 lower than previously reported. (Monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors.) 

_____________

The Employment Situation for April is scheduled to be released on Friday,

May 5, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

nTIDE March 2023 jobs report: people with disabilities maintain record labor force participation rate, outperforming people without disabilities

National Trends in Disability Employment (nTIDE) – Issued semi-monthly by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire

Reports and Proceedings

KESSLER FOUNDATION

 

IMAGE: THIS GRAPHIC COMPARES THE LABOR MARKET INDICATORS FOR MARCH 2022 AND MARCH 2023, SHOWING INCREASES FOR PEOPLE WITH AND WITHOUT DISABILITIES. view more 

CREDIT: KESSLER FOUNDATION

East Hanover, NJ – April, 7 2023 – People with disabilities maintained their record labor force participation rate in March, continuing to outperform people without disabilities, according to today’s National Trends in Disability Employment – semi-monthly update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). Year-to-year, people with and without disabilities showed gains in employment, reflecting the economy’s ongoing recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Year-to-Year nTIDE Numbers (comparing March 2022 to March 2023)

Based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Jobs Report released today, the labor force participation rate for people with disabilities (ages 16-64) increased from 37.8 percent in March 2022 to 40.2 percent in March 2023 (up 6.3 percent or 2.4 percentage points). For people without disabilities (ages 16-64), the labor force participation rate also increased from 77.2 percent in March 2022 to 77.6 percent in March 2023 (up 0.5 percent or 0.4 percentage points). The labor force participation rate reflects the percentage of people who are in the labor force (working, on temporary layoff, on furlough, or actively looking for work in the last four weeks) relative to the total population (the number of people in the labor force divided by the number of people in the total population multiplied by 100).

“The labor force participation rate was unchanged from last month, 40.2 percent in February 2023 and March 2023, showing that over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, people with disabilities remained in the labor force, and continue to outperform people without disabilities,” remarked Andrew Houtenville, PhD, professor of economics and research director of the UNH-IOD. “Several factors may be driving the increased participation of people with disabilities, including an increase in job opportunities and the pressing need to work as families face inflationary prices,” he added.

With regard to employment, the employment-to-population ratio for working-age people with disabilities (ages 16-64) increased from 34.1 percent in March 2022 to 36.6 percent in March 2023 (up 7.3 percent or 2.5 percentage points). For working-age people without disabilities (ages 16-64), the employment-to-population ratio also increased from 74.5 percent in March 2022 to 74.9 percent in March 2023 (up 0.5 percent or 0.4 percentage points). The employment-to-population ratio, a key indicator, reflects the percentage of people who are working relative to the total population (the number of people working divided by the number of people in the total population multiplied by 100).

“We saw a year-to-year improvement in the employment-to-population ratio for both people with and without disabilities from March 2022 to this year,” said John O’Neill, PhD, director of the Center for Employment and Disability Research at Kessler Foundation. “This probably reflects the emergence of the economy from the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.  

This graphic compares the labor market indicators for February 2023 and March 2023, showing a flat labor force participation rate for people with disabilities and a slight increase for people without disabilities. The employment-to-population ratio decreased slightly for people with disabilities and increased for people without disabilities

CREDIT

Kessler Foundation

Month-to-Month nTIDE Numbers (comparing February 2023 to March 2023) Compared to last month, the labor force participation rate for people with disabilities (ages 16-64) remained unchanged from February 2023 to March 2023 at 40.2 percent. For people without disabilities (ages 16-64), the labor force participation rate increased slightly from 77.3 percent in February 2023 to 77.6 percent in March 2023 (up 0.4 percent or 0.3 percentage points).

Regarding employment, the employment-to-population ratio for people with disabilities (ages 16-64) decreased slightly from 36.9 percent in February 2023 to 36.6 percent in March 2023 (down 0.8 percent or 0.3 percentage points). For people without disabilities (ages 16-64), the employment-to-population ratio increased from 74.4 percent in February 2023 to 74.9 percent in March 2023 (up 0.7 percent or 0.5 percentage points).                                                               

In March, among workers ages 16-64, the 5,997,000 workers with disabilities represented 4.0 percent of the total 149,952,000 workers in the U.S.              

Ask Questions about Disability and Employment

Each nTIDE release is followed by an nTIDE Lunch & Learn online webinar. This live broadcast, hosted via Zoom Webinar, offers attendees Q&A on the latest nTIDE findings, provides news and updates from the field, and features invited panelists who discuss current disability-related findings and events.

On April 7, 2023, at 12:00 pm Eastern, Jennifer Croft, Program Manager for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, joins Drs. O’Neill and Houtenville, and Denise Rozell from the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD). Join our free Lunch & Learn live or visit the nTIDE archives at: ResearchonDisability.org/nTIDE.

Register now for our mid-month Deeper Dive into employment trends at nTIDE Deeper Dive - 4/21/2023 | Center for Research on Disability.

NOTE: The statistics in the nTIDE are based on BLS numbers but are not identical. They are customized by UNH to combine the statistics for men and women of working age (16- 64). nTIDE is funded by Kessler Foundation and was initially funded by grants from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) (90RT5037).

About the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire

The Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) was established in 1987 to provide a university-based focus for the improvement of knowledge, policies, and practices related to the lives of persons with disabilities and their families. For information on the NIDILRR-funded Research and Training Center on Disability Statistics, visit ResearchOnDisability.org.

About Kessler Foundation
Kessler Foundation, a major nonprofit organization in the field of disability, is a global leader in rehabilitation research. Our scientists seek to improve cognition, mobility, and long-term outcomes, including employment, for adults and children with neurological and developmental disabilities of the brain and spinal cord including traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and autism. Kessler Foundation also leads the nation in funding innovative programs that expand opportunities for employment for people with disabilities. For more information, visit KesslerFoundation.org.

Stay Connected with Kessler Foundation
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Graphics:

Title: nTIDE Year-to-Year Comparison of Labor Market Indicators for People with and without Disabilities

Caption: This graphic compares the labor market indicators for March 2022 and March 2023, showing increases for people with and without disabilities.

Title: nTIDE Month-to-Month Comparison of Labor Market Indicators for People with and without Disabilities

Caption: This graphic compares the labor market indicators for February 2023 and March 2023, showing a flat labor force participation rate for people with disabilities and a slight increase for people without disabilities. The employment-to-population ratio decreased slightly for people with disabilities and increased for people without disabilities.     

New research: Policies that aim to increase the supply of teachers may also lower teacher pay, thereby perpetuating the cycle of teacher shortages

Unintended consequences of expanding teacher preparation pathways: does alternative licensure attenuate new teacher pay?

 NEWS RELEASE 7-APR-2023

UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE

Context and Background

Teaching has historically been a licensed profession in which a limited number of schools of education were typically housed in universities and offered a traditional path to certification (Kleiner, 2000). However, 30 years of documented teacher shortages in the United States resulted in federal and state policies that reduce barriers to teacher licensure (Cross, 2017). The goal of these policies is to create a larger pool of new teachers in less time than it typically takes schools of education to produce teachers. Nonunion (also called right-to-work) states are states in which teacher union bargaining is prohibited by state constitutions. Those states have consistently ratified policies that open new pathways to teacher licensure (Guthery, 2018).

In 2001, the Texas State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC), which establishes teacher preparation and certification requirements, reduced the mandatory number of contact hours for teacher candidates to generate more teacher licensure programs (May et al., 2003). By reducing that number of required contact hours, the policy change facilitated the proliferation of alternative licensure programs and has consequently increased the number of new teachers with alternative licensure (Baines et al., 2001; May et al., 2003; Walsh & Jacobs, 2007).

Previous studies have examined the effects of instituting teacher licensure exams and found that increased credentialing barriers resulted in higher wages for new teachers (Angrist & Guryan, 2008; Goldhaber & Hansen, 2010). Collectively, these studies assert that when states increase barriers to teacher licensure, the number of newly licensed teachers decreases. In turn, this decrease of newly licensed teachers generates more competition among districts to hire fewer available people and tends to drive up wages. Our study considers the opposite: the consequences for wages when reduced preparation and licensure requirements make it easier—rather than harder—to enter the teaching profession. Specifically, we investigate what happens when a teaching license becomes more obtainable and the profession less restrictive. Previous research on licensed professions has found that licensed professionals were paid more for their skill set than were equivalent professionals in nonlicensed fields because the institution of licensure serves as a barrier and regulates the number of people in the profession, thus protecting the higher wages (Kleiner, 2000).

This study investigates whether reduced barriers to entry and the resultant increase in teacher supply influenced salaries for elementary Texas educators. We examine the implementation of a policy in 2001 (SBEC, 1999) that expands alternative licensure and its effects for wages among new Elementary (EC-6) teachers, the most commonly produced category of new teacher in Texas. We find that the 2001 Texas policy is associated with attenuated pay for all EC-6 new teachers. We also find that, prior to the implementation of the policy, districts that hired more than 50% of their new teachers with alternative licensure were paying higher salaries relative to other districts. However, following the institution of the policy, the districts that hired 50% or more alternatively licensed teachers (ALTs) experienced stagnated teacher pay in real dollars, and the districts that hired less than 10% ALTs increased teacher pay.

Purposes and Consequences of Alternative Teacher Licensure

Texas has established numerous forms of alternative licensure to expand the supply of licensed teachers; by the 2016–2017 school year, 55% of new teacher licenses in Texas were issued through alternative pathways (Rubiera, 2018). In addition, Texas initiated several policies that deregulate teacher licensure, and similar policies are now in effect in many states throughout the country (Feistritzer et al., 2011; Walsh & Jacobs, 2007). The following section reviews the rationale for instituting alternative routes to teacher licensure, addresses changes in the teacher supply attributable to alternative licensure, and concludes by discussing potential consequences of alternative licensure policies.

Meeting a Need Through Alternative Licensure

The practice of licensing and then certifying American teachers dates to the colonial era; however, the rise of compulsory schooling and the proliferation of schools of education resulted in teaching being a licensed profession by the 20th century (Tyack, 1974). Under this system, a limited number of preparation programs run by universities—now known as traditional schools of education—were grantors of teacher licenses (Kleiner, 2000). As in other licensed fields (e.g., medicine or law), teacher certifications and licenses aimed to achieve two interrelated objectives. First, they ensured the quality of teachers educating students; the need for teacher quality was premised on the idea that teacher training was related to student outcomes. Second, licensure protected the profession of education from unfair competition and from “unethical, incompetent, or improperly prepared teachers” (LaBue, 1960, p. 148).

However, by the 1980s, critics were arguing that the certification rules governing university teacher preparation programs were also inhibiting the overall production of new teachers. School districts that served minoritized and economically disadvantaged students reported particular trouble hiring and retaining qualified teachers (Heilig et al., 2010). Moreover, teacher shortages became particularly acute in areas of critical need, such as bilingual education, computer science, science, mathematics, and special education—and some of these shortages had extended for decades (Cross, 2017). These long-standing critical shortages were used to justify the more rapid production of teachers (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board [THECB], 2002). Traditional institutions of higher education were blamed for the bottleneck in teacher production, and so in 1983, New Jersey created the first alternative licensing program that was designed to license new teachers without requiring traditional university preparation (Walsh & Jacobs, 2007). Over the next 2 decades, alternative licensure was widely adopted throughout the United States.

By 2000, alternative teacher licensure was permitted in Texas, but not widespread. However, in August 2001, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board issued a memorandum stating that the number of contact hours for alternative licensure required by the SBEC were guidelines rather than rules (THECB, 2001). That wording change was significant because it allowed alternative teacher licensure programs to reduce their program length, while the length of traditional (university-based) preparation programs remained fixed. The subsequent 2001 legislative change made Texas one of three states that did not require a practical classroom component (e.g., student teaching) for teacher preparation toward licensure (Baines et al., 2001). The reduced requirements for teacher preparation would have a profound effect on the teacher labor market in Texas; specifically, the policy change created the pathway for the majority of teachers to obtain an alternative license throughout the state (Smith, 2021).

Teacher Supply and Sorting Due to Alternative Licensure

Although several studies have investigated differences in the quality of teachers produced by alternative licensure programs, the outcomes are mixed. Goldhaber and Brewer (2000) find little evidence that teacher licensure is related to student achievement, instead noting that in-subject certification is a better predictor of student achievement than a teacher’s licensure type. In a study of Florida data, Sass (2011) finds that alternative licensure programs are diverse, as are the teachers who engage in those pathways. However, he notes that “alternatively certified teachers have stronger pre-service academic skills, as evidenced by higher initial pass rates on certification exams and higher college entrance exam scores than traditionally prepared teachers” (p. 17). Finally, von Hippel et al. (2016) urge caution when assessing the real differences in quality between teacher preparation programs. Any differences that exist are very small (resulting in differences in student achievement of just .02 standard deviation [SD] in reading and .03 SD in math). Moreover, the estimates of such differences are “sensitive and uncertain” and consist “mostly of noise” (p. 29). In short, any differences in teacher quality attributable to the type of licensure program remain a critical question in the research (Castro & Edwards, 2021).

Concerns about preparation quality and retention persist, but alternative routes have produced a significant number of new teachers for districts with persistent shortages (Redding & Smith, 2016; Smith, 2021). Alternative licensure has also increased some dimensions of diversity in the teaching field. Specifically, more individuals from historically underrepresented groups are entering teaching through alternative rather than traditional licensure (Kane et al., 2008; Peterson & Nadler, 2009). The increase in ALTs of color has been a positive addition for students, with recent efficacy studies affirming the benefits to students of color when they have teachers of color in their schools (Dee 2005; Grissom & Redding, 2015). Additionally, although male participation in the teacher labor force is shrinking overall (National Center for Education Statistics, n.d.), the majority of male teacher candidates are entering the profession and obtaining licensure through alternative pathways. Men compose 22% of all ALTs, compared with only 16% of traditionally prepared teachers (National Center for Education Statistics, n.d.). Despite large increases in the number of ALTs, thousands of teaching jobs remain unfilled every year, indicating that the vacancies may not be due to the lack of traditionally prepared candidates (THECB, 2002).

What is clearer among extant studies are the ways in which the typical school context is different for ALTs than for traditionally licensed teachers. Darling-Hammond et al. (2002) find that “based on their graduates’ feelings of preparedness, teacher education programs do differ in the quality of preparation they provide” and that alternative route teachers rated their preparation lower than did traditionally prepared teachers (p. 297). ALTs are more likely to work in low-achieving, low-income, urban schools with a majority of non-White students in conditions that are usually categorized as high-needs or priority schools (Ballou & Podgursky, 2000; Boyd et al., 2007; Lankford et al., 2002). However, the higher rate of turnover among ALTs fuels an ongoing debate regarding whether they leave the profession because they tend to teach in challenging school environments or because of a sorting effect associated with their alternative credentialing (e.g., Darling-Hammond, 2006; Guthery & Bailes, 2022; Redding & Smith, 2016).

Teacher Labor Market and Pay

The relative wage for an American teacher has been falling since the 1960s (Allegretto et al., 2011; Hanushek & Rivkin, 2007; Hoxby & Leigh, 2004). Lower teaching wages are attributable in part to the structure of teacher pay steps, which are typically negotiated through traditional union bargaining (Hanushek, 2007; Hoxby, 1996). The factors that tend to raise pay among teachers are years of service and additional educational attainment, such as advanced degrees (Hanushek, 2007). Teacher turnover, then, drives down the average aggregate salary for two reasons: lower average tenure pay and less time for teachers to get an advanced degree before they leave the profession. Although other studies have focused on teacher financial incentives (including teacher-designed incentives) and ensuing teacher quality or productivity (e.g., Springer & Taylor, 2016), we focus on the pay structure for novice teachers produced through traditional and alternative licensure pathways. We are therefore able to isolate effects of lowered barrier to entry on new teacher pay, which tends to be more sensitive to policy changes because existing teachers tend to be in longer-term employment contracts (Guthery, 2018).

As teacher pay has trended downward over time, researchers have identified policy changes that have altered either teacher supply or district demand and resulted in changes to teacher wages. Theoretically, a professional’s pay is tied to the barriers to entry for that profession and, specifically, the difficulty of obtaining a professional license (Kleiner, 2006). Angrist and Guryan (2008) illustrate this point within the field of education: They find that implementing a mandatory testing component for teacher licensure was associated with a smaller supply of teachers and a higher teacher wage of 3%–5%. Another state policy that influences teacher pay is the rate at which states allow districts to merge. Taylor (2010) finds that school district mergers suppressed market competition as well as teacher salaries. Increasing competition for new teachers by increasing independence among districts is, therefore, predicted to increase the base pay rate for 88% of the teachers in Texas (Taylor, 2010).

The institution of teacher licensure has had an observable effect on the profession. When barriers to entry change, the supply and the demography of new teachers also change. This relationship suggests that some features of the teaching pool are sensitive to policies that alter barriers to entry. As detailed above, state policies that increase the difficulty of obtaining a teacher license result in a marked decrease in the total number of licensed teachers as well as in the diversity of entrants into the profession. Wages, finally, are also malleable to the number of teachers in the pool and the number of employers who compete for teachers in the labor force. According to market theory (Fama, 1970), as more teachers are licensed and the overall supply of teachers increases, each teacher’s value in the market declines. We examine the effect of the Texas 2001 law change on the number of ALTs in Texas and how that number relates to the pay rate for new EC-6 teachers. Previous studies have concluded that implementing licensure tests restricted the supply of teachers, thereby increasing teacher pay. We investigate whether the lower salaries in Texas may be associated with falling barriers to entry and the increasing supply of ALTs. As alternative licensure provided a less costly and time-consuming path to classrooms, did the supply shift influence new teacher pay in the state?

Research Questions

Extant literature supports the idea that increasing the entry demands for teaching through such requirements as licensure exams decreases the teacher supply and increases teacher pay (e.g., Angrist & Guryan, 2008; Valenzuela, 2017). Applying Stigler’s (1971) capture theory of regulation, professions use licensure as a barrier to entry for certain fields, thus raising the pay for everyone licensed within that field. This study examines an alternative proposition: the possibility that the 2001 easing of entry into the teaching profession in Texas resulted in reduced teacher pay. Specifically, we address the following research question:

Is the 2001 Texas policy, which reduced teacher licensure requirements and accelerated the production of alternatively certified teachers, associated with reductions in the starting salary of new teachers?

Data and Sample

Variable Definitions

Data were obtained and merged from the Texas state longitudinal administrative data system and the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data (National Center for Education Statistics, n.d.). The full data set includes approximately 1,282 districts with 15 years of observations at the district level. The number of new teachers hired by each district was calculated by using teacher-level data from approximately 1.5 million observations based on 786,724 unique teachers (defined below) from 2000 to 2015.

New Teacher Pay

The dependent variable, teacher pay, is the log of new EC-6 teacher base pay adjusted to 2015 dollars. Base pay is defined as all pay related to a teacher’s main assignment, including hiring bonuses, but excluding any pay related to extra duties, such as coaching or driving a bus. We include hiring bonuses as part of salary because they are part of the guaranteed pay for the year, and hiring bonuses offered by a district are part of a hiring decision by a new hire. The outcome variable only measures changes to new teachers’ salaries, and a new teacher is defined as a full-time teacher in a traditional or charter public school with 0 years of prior experience. In Texas, a right-to-work state, districts are more likely to focus on raising new teacher salaries than on rewarding tenure, which results in an overall flatter pay structure (Hoxby, 1996). Thus, we only included new teacher salaries because they are more sensitive to market changes of supply and unaffected by decreasing teacher tenure pay raises.

Teacher Licensure

Teacher licensure research includes a variety of ways to define teacher preparation paths because the paths are not always mutually exclusive (Guthery & Bailes, 2022). The following explains our definition of each variable as well as the exact specifications for measurement in this study. Traditionally prepared teachers are those who were trained in a university-based program with a field placement. Their preparation is inclusive of requirements for hours in reading, math, and special education instruction as well as a supervised teaching placement in a K–12 school classroom. A teacher is counted as traditionally certified if their degree is standard and their program is classified as a traditional preparation program (university-based).

For ALTs, the state awards a standard licensure but identifies that teacher in the state database as having taken an alternative path to licensure. Examples of this path are online programs, community college programs, district-run programs, and university alternative programs. The state designates a teacher as alternatively certified when that person has completed an initial teacher-training program and passed the state tests that are used in Texas for licensure. Because traditional schools of education also run alternative programs, the state counts a teacher as alternatively certified if their preparation path is classified as alternative, even if their program code is traditional. We therefore define an ALT as one who has completed a teaching program classified by the state as an alternative licensure program. In the process of coding entrance paths, many teachers overlapped categories. Appendix A lists the priority order in which each entrant was assigned a single licensure path. Because we did not differentiate between for-profit alternative licensure programs and university licensure programs, it is not possible to compare the effect of alternative licenses issued by different types of educator preparation programs.

Data Descriptives

The average district in Texas has 256.4 teachers and hires about 20 novice teachers each year. The average annual district turnover rate for all teachers is 19.9%, meaning that teachers are retiring or transferring at the rate of almost one in five. The average district comprises 78.8% White teachers, and 36.9% of the teachers have fewer than 5 years of experience. Over the course of this study, the average district in Texas hired 31.6% of its novice teachers with an alternative licensure. We divided districts into quartiles based on the percentage of novice ALTs they hired relative to other districts. Districts in the highest quartile hired more than 50.2% of their new teachers with alternative licensure; by contrast, districts in the lowest quartile hired less than 10% of their novice teachers with alternative licensure. Table 1 illustrates the descriptives for all districts and the districts that are in the highest and lowest quartiles for hiring ALT novice teachers.

There is a statistically significant difference in the racial composition of districts that were hiring the largest and smallest percentages of ALTs as their new teachers. Districts in the top quartile (hiring the most novice ALTs) were composed of 42.5% White students, while districts in the lowest quartile of hiring ALTs were composed of 60.8% White students (sig. p < .01***). Additionally, districts that hired a majority of new ALTs also hired 29.9%*** more beginning teachers than districts that hired the least number of ALTs. Further, districts that were hiring in the highest quartile of ALTs were retaining fewer teachers than districts that were hiring the smallest number of ALTs. Districts in the lowest quartile for hiring ALTs tended to have characteristics associated with better working conditions (e.g., smaller schools or less teacher turnover), while districts in the highest quartile tended to have characteristics associated with less desirable working conditions (e.g., larger schools or more teacher turnover). The data show that districts that were hiring the most ALTs were larger than average, had more diverse staff and students, and had higher average annual teacher turnover, and a third of their teaching corps were novice teachers.

Methods

This study tests the extent to which reducing barriers to a teaching license is associated with changes to new teacher pay. To do this, we examined pay in the year preceding the Texas policy change as well as the 14 years thereafter. Although the official policy was approved in 2001, new educator preparation programs took several years to organize, recruit students, and produce new teachers. Therefore, there is not one discrete point of discontinuity; instead, we see observable change over time as alternative licenses gained popularity from a small percentage of annual licenses to the majority of new teachers. Due to the longitudinal panel structure of the data, each observation is dependent upon an observation in a previous time period, which violates a key assumption of independence in Ordinary Least Squares regression (Allison, 2009). Thus, we chose to use a first difference regression model to account for unobserved sources of heterogeneity among districts and the likely dependence of errors on the prior time period. Although we do control for time invariant predictors, such as geographic locale, in our models, estimates cannot be generated for invariant observations within districts across years.

Results

The first model (m1) tests the change in new teacher pay in real dollars for all districts over time (Table 2). The results from m1 show that, controlling for changes in district demographics over time, the average district pay for new EC-6 teachers declined by 2%–13% within 15 years after the policy change (Full Model Results Appendix B). To isolate the association between the hiring of ALTs and decreases in new teacher pay, we separated the districts into the highest and lowest quartiles based on the rate at which they hired ALTs. We found a noticeable separation in new teacher pay over time between districts that were hiring 50% or more of their new teachers with alternative licenses and those districts hiring less than 10% of their new teachers with alternative licenses. Table 2 illustrates the change in new teacher pay over time between High ALT districts (m2) and Low ALT districts (m3).

For Low ALT districts (m3), pay was stagnant in real dollars, while other districts lowered pay in real dollars over time (m2). In 2005, High ALT districts paid teachers 9% less than they did in 2000. By contrast, Low ALT districts paid teachers 4% less in 2005 than they did in 2000. While controlling for other demographic variables in the district, an increasing percentage of African American and Hispanic teachers was associated with further decreases in real pay for new teachers over time. This small but significant association warrants further inquiry into why new teacher pay was falling over time in districts with higher percentages of African American and Hispanic teachers (full model results are available in Appendix B).

As the policy had time to diffuse and take full effect, there were differential effects for districts, depending upon the rate of ALT hires. Figure 1 shows the changes in EC-6 new teacher pay over time in all districts (m1), High ALT districts (m2), and Low ALT districts (m3).

Figure 1 illustrates how hiring varying levels of ALTs had a differential effect on district pay by comparing the main effects on new teacher pay from m1, m2, and m3. In the year prior to policy implementation, the average district offered higher pay, which fell over time. Conversely, Low ALT districts initially offered lower wages, but increased pay over time. The districts that sought and hired a greater proportion of ALTs offered higher teacher wages in the year prior to the policy change (2000). However, as the rate of hiring ALTs increased in these districts, the pay models reversed, and they offered significantly lower wages (Figure 1).

ossible for an entrant to be classified as traditionally prepared and, in the same year, classified as alternatively certified by exam. Although we detail in Appendix A the process by which we categorized teachers, there were not clear lines in new teacher licensure. Another limitation is that the definition of pay that we employ in this study does not include any additional benefits, such as insurance or retirement. It is possible that, when excluding these benefits, the salary does not adequately capture total teacher compensation.

Discussion and Implications

This study examines the association between an increased supply of ALTs and attenuated pay of novice teachers—specifically, EC-6 general education teachers. Easing licensure requirements to rapidly produce more teachers is associated with at least one possible unintended consequence: decreasing new teacher pay. We find that the proliferation of alternative licensure programs drives down the pay of some novice teachers. Our findings contribute to the growing number of studies that associate ease of entry to the teaching profession with changes in teacher pay (Angrist & Guryan, 2008; Kleiner, 2000). Policies that aim to increase the supply of teachers may also lower teacher pay, thereby perpetuating the cycle of teacher shortages. In this section, we discuss these findings as well as their implications for research, policy, and practice.

Reductions in Teacher Pay and Quality

Our study focuses on changes to new teacher pay over time. Because there are not developed quality indicators, such as ratings or test scores, for novice teachers before they are hired, we are not able to assess whether lower new teacher pay results in lower candidate quality. However, previous research on labor unions and pay does link higher barriers to entry with higher-quality candidates (Barrett et al., 2022; Jabbar et al., 2020).

An extensive review of teacher preparation and student achievement concludes that reduced barriers to entry do not result in the same quality of entrants (Darling-Hammond, 2000). The issues of certifying and licensing teachers are of critical importance because low-quality practitioners present significant financial and relational costs in terms of human resource expenses and poor job performance (Ballou & Podgursky, 2000). Previous research finds that the quality of a teacher preparation program does matter (e.g., Darling-Hammond, 2006). By reducing the barrier to entry in the licensed teaching profession, according to the theory of protected occupations, the shift is likely detrimental to the quality of the field.

The U.S. Department of Education continues to support alternative licensure programs to fill ongoing teacher shortages. As such, the degree to which changes to the difficulty of teacher licensing act as a lever for teacher pay is of increasing importance. If the 2001 policy change in Texas resulted in teacher salaries that were too low to attract traditionally licensed candidates and the teacher pool was dominated by ALTs, then the quality of ALTs would be crucial to school improvement efforts. A further concern is that traditionally certified teachers may be dissuaded from remaining in the profession or advancing their instructional practice because fewer incentives are available to them in light of the competition from ALTs. A person in a protected occupation—that is, a profession bounded by rigorous credentialing—is incentivized to invest in their own professional development because they will not face competition from low-quality substitutes (Kleiner, 2000). Federal and state agencies, then, must attend to the quality of ALTs to ensure that those teachers possess the capacity to support improvement efforts in their typically challenging placement schools.

This study constitutes an important next step in analyzing the composition of new teacher pipelines. This study raises several important questions that merit further attention. We find that districts with higher percentages of teachers of color were also associated with lower new teacher pay over time. This finding warrants further investigation and likely has implications for the ways in which we understand teacher sorting to districts based on their preparation pathway. We encourage researchers to further investigate whether there are systemic differences in districts composed of more teachers of color and lower new teacher pay. As indicated above, teacher quality as a result of preparation pathway is an ongoing conversation. If there is an observable difference in the quality of teachers from different types of preparation programs, the rate at which the highest and lowest quality teachers are being produced is significant. Another topic for future research may be examining the low-performing K–12 districts that certify their own teachers in schools. How likely is it, for example, that a persistently failing school can train effective teachers?

Changes to Teacher Licensure Pipelines

Over the course of the decade following the 2001 policy change, the number of ALTs who were credentialed has increased fivefold in Texas. In 2000, the year prior to the policy change, 88 programs provided initial teacher licensure in Texas. In the subsequent decade, the number of programs training and credentialing new teachers almost doubled. The number of programs peaked in 2010–2011, when 161 separate programs licensed teachers in the state of Texas (Texas Education Agency, n.d.). In 2005, alternative licensure became the preferred preparation route for the majority of Texas teachers (Figure 2). Thus, deregulating program requirements allowed innovation in types of new teacher programs, as evidenced by the fact that for-profits, online programs, community colleges, traditional schools of education, and K–12 school districts all launched teacher licensing programs. This policy change increased the number of teacher preparation programs and, thus, the state’s capacity to license new teachers.

We can be certain that as the number of teacher preparation programs increased in Texas, that proliferation was not equally distributed between standard and alternative licensure pathways. The 2001 policy allowed for innovation in alternative licensure, but maintained requirements for a standard licensure. As a result, the dramatic increase in programs occurred only where the regulations were lifted. Our data do not allow us to distinguish between candidates who chose alternative pathways in lieu of traditional ones or the ways in which the proliferation of alternative licensure precluded candidates from entering traditional programs—or from entering the teaching profession altogether. Our findings do show that the 2001 policy and the resultant changes to teacher licensure fundamentally altered how the average novice teacher in Texas was trained and certified (Figure 2). At present, the modal novice teacher in Texas is alternatively certified.

As depicted in Figure 2, the total number of initial teacher licenses has increased when compared to the amount produced annually prior to the policy change in 2001. The number of teachers licensed by traditional programs did not hold constant, regardless of the number of teachers entering through alternative licensure. The data on teacher preparation reveal that although the percentage of new teachers who were alternatively licensed increased, the licensing by traditional programs simultaneously decreased. Although introducing a large number of new teacher licensure programs did result in a net gain to the number of new licenses, the increase in new teacher preparation volume was not wholly in addition to the standard programs that already existed.

The 2001 policy was designed to encourage the rapid production of new teachers outside traditional schools of education to meet district shortage needs. Texas implemented the 2001 policy to address its persistent teacher shortages. Teacher shortage is self-reported by each state’s secretary of education (or equivalent office) and chronicles teacher shortage areas geographically and by subject. Unfortunately, the ways the shortage areas are reported make it impossible to measure the severity of the shortage or to quantify change in shortage areas over time. However, it is possible to identify patterns of continuous teacher shortage. Figure 3 is a visual representation of 20 years of Texas reports listing shortage areas for teachers.

Figure 3 illustrates that although naming conventions have changed slightly, mathematics, science, technology, special education, and bilingual teachers have been and continue to be in short supply. The annual report on teacher shortages in Texas is static over time, despite the increase in teachers alternatively prepared since 2001 (Figure 3).

Incentivizing Traditional Teacher Licensure With Pay

One way to compensate traditionally certified teachers for their lengthier preparation in teacher training would be to pay traditionally certified teachers more than ALTs. However, in 2008, Renee v. Spellings (later Renee v. Duncan) codified alternative licensure in two notable ways. First, it officially recognized traditionally certified teachers and ALTs as highly qualified (Schuster, 2012). This effectively made the two pathways indistinguishable in terms of qualification because “highly qualified” then applied to traditionally certified teachers and ALTs. Thus, teachers currently have no financial incentive to invest their time or finances into a traditional preparation program because the “highly qualified” distinction now applies to alternative preparation pathways—some of which are faster and less expensive (Fenstermacher, 1990).

Second, the legislative change codified equal recognition of the two credentialing pathways and thereby standardized a single salary schedule for all teachers, regardless of licensure type. This precludes states, districts, or schools from financially incentivizing traditional licensure. Renee v. Duncan continues to shape the ways in which traditionally and alternatively certified teachers are promoted and paid. Specifically, this case law eliminates some incentives in terms of pay and prestige that were previously associated only with traditional licensure.

This study identifies a link between the increased production of ALTs in Texas and reduced pay for new EC-6 teachers. As the quantity of new teachers surged, the valuation of each individual teacher fell, and new teachers’ salaries decreased on average. This association has the potential to instigate a vicious cycle of turnover: Teachers may exit the classroom because reduced wages make the profession unsustainable, and districts must scramble to recruit each successive round of rapidly certified teacher replacements, offering lower salaries. Focusing only on the point of teacher production has not alleviated the state’s shortage of teachers. Texas districts may, in this regard, provide a useful illustration to other states that aim to fill shortages solely through increased access to alternative teacher licensure. As the United States struggles nationwide to fill vacant teaching positions, we must consider the possibility that expanding alternative licensure programs alone may not be an efficient solution to mitigating teacher shortages.

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JOURNAL

American Educational Research Journal

DOI

10.1177/23328584231159900 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Unintended Consequences of Expanding Teacher Preparation Pathways: Does Alternative Licensure Attenuate New Teacher Pay?

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

27-Mar-2023

LGBTQ+

COVID-19 pandemic increased the frequency of intimate partner violence

The study found those living in the South were more likely to report an increase in violence and depression.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people who experienced intimate partner violence in their current relationship before COVID-19 had an increase in the frequency of victimization after the pandemic began, according to a Rutgers study.

While national emergencies, crises and pandemics increase the frequency of health risks and intimate partner violence few studies have considered the nuances of social and psychological factors, such as socioeconomic characteristics and mental health, in explaining the increase in intimate partner violence during times of crisis.

“To date, most programs on intimate partner violence focus on opposite sex and heterosexual couples,” said Perry N. Halkitis, dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health and senior study author. “However, same-sex couples are different in terms of partner dynamics, and thus interventions need to address these differences.”

The study, published online ahead of print in the Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services in April 2023, found that nearly one in five LGBTQ people reported intimate partner violence in their current romantic or sexual relationship, which increased following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also found those in the southern United States were more likely to report an increase in intimate partner violence frequency and that intimate partner violence was associated with greater severity of depressive symptoms.

The Rutgers researchers conducted to the best of their knowledge the first analysis that reported the frequency of intimate partner violence victimization since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in a national sample of LGBTQ adults and assessed associations between sociodemographic characteristics such as region, education, age, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual identity and mental health states.

These findings also support calls for increased intimate partner violence-related resources available for and tailored to the needs of LGBTQ people, particularly during times of national crisis.

“Intimate partner violence interventions need to address that LGBTQ people are not monolithic in terms of many factors, including environments in which they live. Now more than ever given the attacks on LGBTQ people by politicians, the work we are doing at our research center CHIBPS is as important as ever,” Halkitis said.

Other study authors include Christopher B. Stults, Kristen D. Krause, Richard J. Martino, Marybec Griffin, Caleb E. LoSchiavo, Savannah G. Lynn, Stephan A. Brandt, David Tana, Nicolas Hornea, Gabin Lee and Jessie Wong.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services

DOI

10.1080/10538720.2022.2116140 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Sociodemographic characteristics, depressive symptoms, and increased frequency of intimate partner violence among LGBTQ people in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic: A brief report

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

1-Apr-2023

Scientists discover a way Earth’s atmosphere cleans itself

UC Irvine chemist helped shed light on the formation of an air-clearing molecule

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - IRVINE

Irvine, Calif., April 7, 2023 — Human activities emit many kinds of pollutants into the air, and without a molecule called hydroxide (OH), many of these pollutants would keep aggregating in the atmosphere.

How OH itself forms in the atmosphere was viewed as a complete story, but in new research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a research team that includes Sergey Nizkorodov, a University of California, Irvine professor of chemistry, report that a strong electric field that exists at the surface between airborne water droplets and the surrounding air can create OH by a previously unknown mechanism.

It’s a finding that stands to reshape how scientists understand how the air clears itself of things like human-emitted pollutants and greenhouse gases, which OH can react with and eliminate. “You need OH to oxidize hydrocarbons, otherwise they would build up in the atmosphere indefinitely,” said Nizkorodov.

“OH is a key player in the story of atmospheric chemistry. It initiates the reactions that break down airborne pollutants and helps to remove noxious chemicals such as sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide, which are poisonous gases, from the atmosphere,” said Christian George, an atmospheric chemist at the University of Lyon in France and lead author of the new study. “Thus, having a full understanding of its sources and sinks is key to understanding and mitigating air pollution.”

Before, researchers assumed that sunlight was the chief driver of OH formation.

“The conventional wisdom is that you have to make OH by photochemistry or redox chemistry. You have to have sunlight or metals acting as catalysts,” Nizkorodov said. “What this paper says in essence is you don’t need any of this. In the pure water itself, OH can be created spontaneously by the special conditions on the surface of the droplets.”

The team built on research from Stanford University scientists led by Richard Zare that reported spontaneous formation of hydrogen peroxide on the surfaces of water droplets. The new findings help interpret the unexpected results from the Zare group.

The team measured OH concentrations in different vials – some containing an air-water surface and others containing only water without any air – and tracked OH production in darkness by including a “probe” molecule in the vials that fluoresces when it reacts with OH.

What they saw is that OH production rates in darkness mirror those and even exceed rates from drivers like sunlight exposure. “Enough of OH will be created to compete with other known OH sources,” said Nizkorodov. “At night, when there is no photochemistry, OH is still produced and it is produced at a higher rate than would otherwise happen.”

The findings, Nizkorodov reported, alter understanding of the sources of OH, something that will change how other researchers build computer models that attempt to forecast how air pollution happens.

“It could change air pollution models quite significantly,” Nizkorodov said. “OH is an important oxidant inside water droplets and the main assumption in the models is that OH comes from the air, it’s not produced in the droplet directly.”

To determine whether this new OH production mechanism plays a role, Nizkorodov thinks the next step is to perform carefully designed experiments in the real atmosphere in different parts of the world.

But first, the team expects the results to make a splash in the atmospheric research community.

“A lot of people will read this but will not initially believe it and will either try to reproduce it or try to do experiments to prove it wrong,” said Nizkorodov. “There will be many lab experiments following up on this for sure.”

He added that UCI is a prime place for such science to continue happening, because other labs at UCI, like that of Ann Marie Carlton, professor of chemistry, focus their efforts on the role water droplets play in the atmosphere.

This project, which was funded by the European Research Council, involved researchers from France’s University Claude Bernard, China’s Guangdong University of Technology, and Israel’s Weizmann Institute.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities and is ranked among the nation’s top 10 public universities by U.S. News & World Report. The campus has produced five Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation, and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 224-degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $7 billion annually to the local economy and $8 billion statewide. For more on UCI, visit www.uci.edu.

Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UCI faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UCI news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists.

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

ARTICLE TITLE

Spontaneous dark formation of OH radicals at the interface of aqueous atmospheric droplets

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

3-Apr-2023