Young primary school teachers earning much more than other professional graduates

Primary school teachers earn more after graduating than other HBO graduates, reported SEO Economic Research in the economics journal ESB. The hourly wage of someone who has completed a teacher training program (PABO) is approximately 13 percent higher one year after graduation than other university of applied sciences graduates.

The research organizations examined teachers who obtained their diplomas in the 2021/22 academic year. However, the hourly wage was also higher for those who graduated in the previous five years than for other HBO graduates.

Of the PABO students who graduated in 2021/22, 94 percent found jobs within a year, the vast majority in education. For other HBO graduates, the percentage of people with jobs one year after graduation was 11 percent lower on average.

73 percent of PABO graduates had a permanent contract after a year of work, compared to 49 percent of other graduates.

Ten years after graduating, people with a PABO diploma earn 5 percent more per hour than other university of applied sciences graduates.

Teachers who graduated in 2006/07 still earned 13 percent less than other graduates ten years later. In recent years, primary school teachers have regularly protested for higher salaries, leading to new collective bargaining agreements.

SEO used data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the Education Executive Agency (DUO), and the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) for its research.

SEO did note that the life of a primary school teacher is “less rosy” when it comes to things like workload, according to existing research. Approximately four out of five teachers regularly work overtime, an average of seven hours per week. Aggression in schools also negatively impacts their work. “These problems are not solved by higher hourly wages and permanent contracts.”