University of South Alabama Mobile County
Mobile Education Graduates Faced Uneven Job Market in 2008
A 2008 WKRG report examined the job search for Mobile-area education graduates, including interest in Baldwin County openings and out-of-state teaching.
Historical report preserved from an archived 2008 local news story.
Mobile-area education graduates faced an uneven job market in 2008, according to an archived local news report that documented how new teachers were navigating the hiring season along the Gulf Coast.
One graduate specializing in English language arts said he was focusing his search on Baldwin County because its job fair was scheduled before Mobile County’s.
A University of South Alabama adviser said the job market for teachers rose and fell over time and encouraged graduates to persist through the slow stretches. The adviser also said teaching in another state could be an option.
This article reflects an employment outlook reported in 2008 and is not current career guidance.
How school budgets shaped hiring
Teacher hiring in Alabama depends heavily on the Education Trust Fund, the state budget that pays for public schools and colleges and draws most of its money from income and sales taxes. Because those revenues rise and fall with the economy, the number of new positions districts can fund shifts from year to year.
That link became sharply visible months after the report. As the recession cut tax collections, Gov. Bob Riley declared proration of the Education Trust Fund in December 2008, ordering midyear across-the-board cuts to education spending.
