Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Labor Statistics and You

Matt Williams, VP of the New Faculty Majority Coalition for Contingent and Adjunct Equity, found the Bureau of Labor Statistics website entry for "Teachers - Postsecondary":

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos066.htm

But faculty salary and other estimates there don't jibe with many contingent faculty's experience, as Matt points out. If yours differs and you'd like to let the good Bureau know, go to:

http://www.bls.gov/bls/guidelinecontact.htm

No guarantee what effect we can have (so far, no answer from Secretary of Labor Solis to the letter of August 2 posted below), but it might be worth pointing out that some 800,000 of us are contingent, that AFT and AAUP estimate we make a quarter of what our tenured peers make, that we teach some 49% of undergraduate courses in public institutions nationwide, etc. Comb some of the Resource posts below for your own counter-stats to send -- by post or email -- to the address on the link above.

in solidarity,

Steve

1 comment:

  1. This is not the only example or work category that has made me wonder how DoL stats are computed. I suspect their figures represent median not average income: just throw us in the same pot with that Nobel Prize winning writer hired as adjunct to teach writing or the specialist hired to teach a seminar at a prestigious private university (where he/she is also called an adjunct).

    Oddly, DoL stats always make pay in growth areas look better than it is - surely worth serious study.

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