Who Chooses Teaching as a Career? Empirical Evidence from a Survey of College Graduates Employment

Abstract

The proportion of teaching staff in China’s labor force as a whole has been steadily rising. It increased from 1.99% in 1990 to 2.3% in 2015 according to estimates based on census data. As a result of the expansion of higher education in China, the education level of the newly employed in the labor market has remarkably improved. In this process, one prominent phenomenon is that young females with college degrees have outnumbered their male counterparts. These changes yield significant effects on teacher labor force supply. Consequently, teachers with a university degree or above predominate the teaching staff; the proportion of female teachers with college degrees is also rising. Hence, to better understand college graduates employment and the current state of teacher supply in China, it is crucial to study the factors influencing graduates’ decision on their career as a teacher.