Teacher Depression

Teacher Depression 10/18/2011

From Matthew Ygesias's site, a chart tracking teacher layoffs since January 2009:

(Before you jump to blame the President... the Senate Republicans killed the American Jobs Act last week, and that Act might have impacted these figures. Congress is currently working on a bill that would direct federal funds toward reversing the above trend.)

Yglesias points out that the impact of teacher layoffs reaches far beyond the teachers themselves: "In the real world, unemployment is high and wages are flat so this [teachers getting hired in the private sector] doesn’t happen. Instead the teacher’s family just faces an immediate need to restrain spending. Defer any purchases of durable goods, stop eating at restaurants, don’t update the wardrobe this season, etc. So now there’s a drag on employment of cooks and waitresses, of clothing retailers, of truck drivers, of guys who install refrigerators, and so forth."