Excuse us while we pack our bags and plan our new lives as teachers in Luxembourg.
According to new data released by the OECD, the starting salary for a high school teacher with no experience in the country is $73,000. The peak salary for a veteran teacher is $131,000.
The OECD's full data set reveals a yawning gap between the highest and lowest paid teachers around the world. When converted to US dollars, many of the salaries fall well short of the average American teacher, who makes $37,000 starting out and approximately $60,000 at the upper end.
Here is the full breakdown.
Purchasing power does vary depending on a country's wealth, which means the Colombian teacher making the equivalent of $6,000 a year likely can make that money go farther than someone could in a richer country.
Overall, however, the OECD data shows just how much variance exists around the world — not just in what teachers normally make, but in how much or little their salaries can increase with time.
In South Korea, for example, teachers start out making $22,000. After they've put 10 years under their belt, that bumps up to $34,000. Then for those who've stayed in the game the longest, incomes hover around $62,000.
In Germany, meanwhile, teachers begin pretty much near the top of their pay scale. Starting salaries run around $46,000 and top out at $60,000.
Only in Luxembourg, one of the richest countries in the world, can an inexperienced teacher expect to make more on her first day than teachers in all other countries can hope to make in their entire careers.
