Why Are There No Teaching Jobs in Michigan? New York? Pennsylvania? or Anywhere?

Information shared by permission from the original author: www.TeachingJobs.com

Michigan is one of the absolute hardest states to find a job in. In fact, many areas in the United States have a surplus of qualified teachers and very, very few open positions to fill.

Why? It's the economy. The manufacturing jobs that were once the staple of the northeastern economy are going bankrupt and/or relocating in other countries, where labor is cheaper. (You can thank NAFTA for the job losses.) As high-paying jobs leave the state, young people with families leave to areas with stronger economies. Schools, therefore, need fewer teachers because there are fewer students.

The population in Michigan isn't growing much (if at all). The economy is dead. The state is getting less tax money as companies and people leave the state. And, yet, Michigan still has high-quality teacher colleges that pump out hundreds of candidates each year. The result: Lots of excellent teacher candidates in a location with no available jobs.

This trend isn't unique to Michigan. Similar teacher job markets exist throughout the northeastern United States, in places such as Upstate New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.

So, if you're in one of these tough job markets, what should you do? If moving is a possibility for you, you might consider relocating to places with stronger economies and booming populations like: Las Vegas, Arizona, Carolina, Colorado, and Florida.

If moving is not an option for you, you can still get a job; you just have to work REALLY hard to market yourself. Schools still need SOME new teachers, though certainly not enough to seriously decrease the huge supply. In order to land a job, you'll have to market yourself so well that you stand out as one of the top 2% of teaching candidates.

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