Do Teachers Have to Take on Second Jobs?
A recent study suggests we've been thinking about teachers' second jobs all wrong
Some teachers take on second jobs. They might tutor on the side, or drive for Uber at night, or take on a summer job. They might also lead extracurricular clubs at school or coach a sport. It’s long been known that teachers are more likely to take on second jobs than workers in other fields.
But why? And how is this changing, if at all?
The common assumption is that they do it for the money. And, because teacher pay is barely keeping up with inflation, it might be logical to assume that teachers are more likely to take on second jobs today than they were in the past.
But research from Christopher Redding and Kelly Taksier suggests we may be thinking about these second jobs all wrong. (See their peer-reviewed version here or read an ungated version here). First up, they show that there’s been very little change over time in the percentage of teachers who take on a second job. In the chart below (Figure 2c in the ungated version), they show that the percentage of public school teachers who had nonschool-based employment fell from 11 to 9% from 1994 to 2021, and the percentage who had both a school- and nonschool-based employment dropped from 15 to 14%.
These are pretty small changes, but these summary stats suggest there’s been any type of surge in teachers holding second jobs. Meanwhile, 45 percent of teachers had no additional job in 1994. In 2021, that figure had fallen to 43%. It all looks pretty constant over time.
But about half of teachers take on a second role within their schools. Those are mostly things like extracurriculars, sports, coaching, or tutoring. That’s interesting, and it’s a different sort of mental model than the teacher delivering pizzas at night to pay for their mortgage…
Next, are teachers holding second jobs being forced into it by low pay? Redding and Taksier don’t find any increase in the total amount of earnings from second jobs. That is the opposite of what you’d expect to find if teachers needed to pick up extra shifts to make ends meet. They write that, “Although working in retail is an oft used example of teacher multiple jobholding, the extent to which teachers take on work outside of their school system appears to be overstated.”
Which teachers take on second jobs? This might give us a clue too. But again, contrary to what you might expect, teachers who take on second jobs tend to be younger, male, and to have a primary teaching role in arts, music, or health. This makes sense, because those fields have more outside opportunities for tutoring or coaching.
Redding and Taksier also don’t find any evidence that teachers who take on second jobs are any less happy with teaching. In fact, their findings point in the opposite direction. They conclude that:
Overall, our results suggest that education leaders and policymakers should not be concerned whether teachers engage in additional work but where that work occurs. The majority of teachers’ so-called “moonlighting” takes place within their own school system and our results suggest that these teachers actually turn over at lower rates than those who do not take on additional work beyond teaching. Such a view aligns with longstanding calls for a career-oriented teacher compensation system that include complementary and hyphenated roles with additional compensation.
In other words, districts should probably look at this evidence and see that at least some portion of teachers are willing to take on extra work in exchange for additional pay. Not only do many teachers want these opportunities, it makes financial sense as a way for districts to offer more money to their best workers.
To go even further, districts could adopt team-based teaching models that build in extra incentives for teachers who take on mentorship or leadership roles. States, too, can reward districts looking to expand or adopt their own versions.
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wryly notes that, “If online content is so addictive that it can lead to adults having less sex, it’s probably fair to speculate that it will lead to kids studying less algebra.”