One of the biggest draws to teaching is the growing numbers of students and the shortage of teachers. It seems like the perfect job. You get to work and educate children, have a great schedule including long summers, plus all the benefits of working for the government.

If you love kids then this seems like the perfect job, but everything isn't as rosy as it seems. By the time education majors graduated from college they were confident about their ability to find a job even in this tough economy. Now that idea has dwindled. After several months of looking for teaching jobs many students still can't find one because the economy forced school systems to cut positions.

The shortage that was so obvious a few years ago but has now turned into a surplus of unemployed educators. Not only can they not find jobs as teachers, but many are struggling to even substitute teach.  The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported since last fall school systems including agencies, schools, and colleges have cut approximately 124,000 jobs.

These cuts have affected teachers at every angle. Many seasoned educators have lost their jobs, while many that were planning on retiring or switching jobs are staying on. Plus, there are individuals that were laid off from other careers that started trying to make it as teachers again or applieed to work as substitutes.  Then there are thousands of graduates trying to find work.

In Texas one school district had over 5,000 applicants and only 322 open positions. Even substitutes almost doubled. So schools currently have 2.5 times as many as it needs even during flu and swine flu season. Because of the tough job market many individuals are trying to become substitute teachers.

It's strange that for years we have been hearing about the teaching shortage that we were going to have along with nursing. Well the economy took a dip and now we have thousands of teachers that are unemployed. Originally experts believed there would be a shortage because baby boomers would be retiring from the classroom and with a strong economy, education wasn't as attractive as it had once been.

The nationwide demand for teachers is decreasing. Out of 61 subjects there were declines in 60. Math was the only subject that positions didn't go down. There was such a shortage of teachers that all math educators remained at their schools unlike other subjects.

Education is no longer a safe guess. Their is no longer a shortage and educators are struggling through the economy just like everyone else. Lilli Lackey is just one example of an unemployed educator looking for work. She remarked at an educator's career fair that "Teaching isn't really the place to go into. A few years ago it seemed like the place to be if you wanted a job."
 

With unemployment as low as ever, many have gone back to the books to get better degrees. Along with better job opportunities, more education is bringing these jobseekers higher paychecks.

 “People are going back to school for better or completely new degrees,” says Donna Graham at ClassesandCareers.com. “They see the necessity to be more competitive in the job market.”

 Even the employed are seeking higher education to ensure they always have a job and get a higher salary.  Most continue working full-time because they can’t afford to cut back on their work hours. 

 “I got my bachelor’s degree in Business Management a long time ago.  I’ve been working as an Account Executive for the past 12 years. Others have come into my company and quickly surpassed my position and salary because they had their master’s degree,” says Megan Ferrell, from Highlands Ranch, Colorado.  “Because times are so rough, I decided it was the appropriate time to get a better education.”

 That’s when a friend recommended she visit ClassesAndCareers.com, a free online education information resource. She was contacted by an education counselor who set her along the path to getting her MBA.

 “It’s been nice to keep working full-time while taking online classes at night,” she says.  “As soon as I finish I will be more qualified for higher salary jobs.”

 If you want to be more competitive in the work force, visit ClassesAndCareers.com to be connected with a live education advisor.  After discussing your career goals, he or she will recommend the best program for you.

Education is a major factor that can significantly reduce the number of people living in poverty.  Currently there are 75 million children throughout the world living in poverty.  They tend to live in sub-Saharan Africa and South and East Asia.  And more than half of these 75 million children live in conflict-affected areas.

Many of these children that never receive an education are girls.  These statistics are a shocking revelation and show that improvement needs to be made.  However, there are also millions of adults that are uneducated and illiterate not only in the world but in the United States.

These illiterate adults that grew up in the United States have no excuse, unlike the millions of children and adults throughout the world that had no choice.  These uneducated Americans have been in elementary school, junior high and even high school.  Most have gone to school for over ten years and in that time frame they didn’t manage to learn how to read and write.

Granted many of these individuals dropped out of school but they had the opportunity to learn and chose not too.  They have also had the option to go back to school and learn how to read and write.  There are many organizations, churches, and individuals that offer programs to help individuals.  If people are living in poverty long-term and they had the opportunity to learn and get an education and they chose not to do so; then it is their fault they are struggling.  They are proud and do not want to spend the time and effort to learn.

These individuals particularly in the United States, who chose not to learn their numbers and problem-solving skills should swallow their pride and go back to school.  Or as most choose to do, they just float around from job to job pretending they have a normal life, while struggling to pay for their next meal.

So if you’re an American that decides school isn’t important and playing is where their priority is at, then your future might be bleak.  Let me paint a picture for you; in twenty years the individual will still have their job checking ticket stubs at the movie theatre.  And instead of living at their parents house, they live in an old trailor.  Oh and don’t forget that for their check-up at the doctors, their wife has to take them because they cannot read or fill out the forms.  Boy life sounds grand.