Bloomington Indiana Employment/Wages (Spencer: student loans, relocating, budget)

[ozrock]

My wife and I would like to know more about wages and employment in Bloomington. We are both high school teachers. My degree is in Business Education, my wife’s in Theater. My wife also has a master’s degree in school social work. Our research shows that in our certification areas openings are non-existent and have been for quite some time.

Outside of the education field, we find that compared to other towns of this size there are fewer professional job openings. It may be our perception, but our research also shows that IU students graduate and stay in the Bloomington area. We get the feeling that employers pay much lower wages than average because these same students are willing to work for less.

It is our perception that employers in Bloomington and the rest of southern Indiana pay on average a wage between $8-10 an hour for jobs that pay $12-14 in other parts of the country. We also have the impression that many jobs in the Bloomington area are part-time with no benefits. On top of this, we find that many of these same part-time jobs require at least a college degree. Is this an accurate perception?

Regardless of how great of a place Bloomington is to live, we would appreciate honesty concerning employment opportunities.

[rrah]

I would say in many ways your research is dead on correct. Lots of PhD's here working as bartenders.

In terms of finding a job as a teacher, with IU right here, graduating hundreds of hungry teachers every year, the school districts can hire new graduates that are pretty smart for far less than you. Business education and theater teaching jobs would be pretty much non existant as you say. Those particular teachers, at least at my D's HS have been around for awhile, but aren't really that close to retirement age.

Bloomington is a great place to live which is why so many grads choose to stay here and make less $ than they could elsewhere.

[ozrock]

Thanks for your reply. I find it interesting that there have been 16 views of this topic and only 1 answer.

I'm not insinuating anything, but it makes me wonder why more people haven't responded. Yes money isn't everything, however while conducting research about the Bloomington area I find people in general complain about trying to make ends meet, yet they don't want to respond. Maybe quality of life means more to the Bloomington population which I can respect.

[domergurl]

Well, being the mod, I have to look at all the posts, so maybe the number of views is inflated because I'm doing my job. Since both of you are licensed professionals, you may want to branch outside of Bloomington. While rrah is right about a local young teacher base to choose from, this should preclude you from pursuing jobs in Bloomington. It's a crap shoot everywhere, but if you keep your options open, look in other school systems in the area. You may be surprised.

[gimme it]

Some of the viewers or your post might be like me, who know nothing about Bloomington, first hand, but are interested in possibly relocating there.

[Bavarian2Ho0sIeR]

You are right with your assessment. A lot of the college kids stay in Bloomington after they graduate. The job market for teachers in southern Indiana is terrible, that's the reason why we moved to North Carolina. My wife's sister in law had to sub for 3.5 years before finally getting a regular position as a teacher. I'd look somewhere else if I were you...

Originally Posted by ozrock

My wife and I would like to know more about wages and employment in Bloomington. We are both high school teachers. My degree is in Business Education, my wife’s in Theater. My wife also has a master’s degree in school social work. Our research shows that in our certification areas openings are non-existent and have been for quite some time.

Outside of the education field, we find that compared to other towns of this size there are fewer professional job openings. It may be our perception, but our research also shows that IU students graduate and stay in the Bloomington area. We get the feeling that employers pay much lower wages than average because these same students are willing to work for less.

It is our perception that employers in Bloomington and the rest of southern Indiana pay on average a wage between $8-10 an hour for jobs that pay $12-14 in other parts of the country. We also have the impression that many jobs in the Bloomington area are part-time with no benefits. On top of this, we find that many of these same part-time jobs require at least a college degree. Is this an accurate perception?

Regardless of how great of a place Bloomington is to live, we would appreciate honesty concerning employment opportunities.

[ozrock]

What about professional employment outside of teaching. How competitve is it to get a decent job, what about wages, etc?

Thanks again for all the replies.

[Bavarian2Ho0sIeR]

It is very competitive to get a decent job in Bloomington. I have several friends who have a master's and decided that they wanted to stay in Bloomington and now work for little money and have crappy jobs. Two of them work at the AT&T store and sell cellphones. What a career. Needless to say, they still haven't paid off their student loans

Originally Posted by ozrock

What about professional employment outside of teaching. How competitve is it to get a decent job, what about wages, etc?

Thanks again for all the replies.

[B nice]

Sometimes when I see an honest answer like from rrah I don't comment. One thing I will add is that another one of our industries just dumped another 900 jobs. They are moving to Kentucky and not going with the union. Big surprise there.
Truthfully the social work degree might be useful here but for teachers it is very competitive! Since it's pretty with lots of things to do then people want to stay and will settle for less wages and benefits...

There are so few places that have dozens of ethnic restaurants, ballet, theater, great sports, a lively music scene and still has a small town atmosphere. So I don't want to discourage you from moving to Bloomington but like other cities in the US we are having problems with our employment. Thank god we have Cook Inc.or we would be in alot more trouble! I believe Authorhouse is hiring too so that may be a possibility. Good luck!

[mm117]

I heard that several of the younger teachers in the local school district were let go due to budget cuts. It seems that any openings would likely be filled through shuffling around existing district employees. However, the surrounding districts always seem to be hiring (places like Owen Valley in Spencer), so maybe you should look into that. The quality of the schools is not as high, but it is very close to the area and would still allow you to enjoy living in Bloomington