Part of the issue is that they’re effectively unemployed for 1/4 of the year (even though most teachers still do stuff for their job during that 1/4 of the year). Those 3 months aren’t paid time off. It’s unpaid. If it were PTO then they’d have an ok wage (still low, but it’d be much more livable).
Is this an American thing? Because here in Germany teachers have a special standing (called "Beamter", although not everyone these days) and are employed for the whole year. And there salary is pretty damn good I would say.
Teachers can opt to get paid for vacation time, but that is just a voluntary reduction of their pay to be given to them during the summer months and isn't a available everywhere. Our teachers are notoriously underpaid and overworked
Teachers in the US can either get their standard pay during the period they work and they don't get paid during the months off(and aren't allowed to get unemployment or anything to act as a buffer) or they can get their wages garnished during the school year so they will get paid that amount during the summer.
It's kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation
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u/Simply_Epic 8h ago
Part of the issue is that they’re effectively unemployed for 1/4 of the year (even though most teachers still do stuff for their job during that 1/4 of the year). Those 3 months aren’t paid time off. It’s unpaid. If it were PTO then they’d have an ok wage (still low, but it’d be much more livable).