The table compares the amounts of money that middle-school teachers in 5 different countries earned in 2009, including starting income, salary after 15 years, the highest earnings, and the number of years required to achieve the maximum salary scale.
Overall, there were notable differences between nations in both the amounts teachers were paid and how fast they could reach the top of their salary levels. While Luxembourg had the highest income levels over the period, it took a long time to reach its maximum wage, around 34 years from the beginning; Denmark and Australia had some of the lowest wages, but they took the shortest time to reach their maximum wages.
There are noticeable variations regarding the incomes of teachers across the five countries within the initial 15 years. While the starting salaries of teachers in Australia, Korea, and Japan range from $28,000 to $34,000, those of Denmark and Luxembourg are $45,000 and $80,000, respectively. In the following 15 years, educators in Luxembourg had the highest salary increment, rising by $39,000 compared to other nations.
As for the maximum pay scales, although teachers in Australia and Denmark receive the lowest top-end incomes ($48,000 and $54,000, respectively), they achieve these figures considerably quicker than their counterparts in other nations, in under 10 years. In stark contrast, Luxembourg’s educators benefit from a significantly higher remuneration, $132,000. It takes the longest time for teachers in Korea and Japan to attain their highest salaries, 34 years for the former and 37 years for the latter.