Education at a Glance 2026

Teacher shortages affect most OECD education systems, but their scale and form vary. In Latvia and Luxembourg, around 4% of secondary teaching positions were unfilled at the start of the 2024/25 school year. In most other countries with available data, vacancy rates were below 3%, and often below 1%.

Shortages are more commonly reflected in the recruitment of teachers who do not hold standard qualifications. Across OECD countries, 9.1% of primary and secondary teachers were not fully qualified in 2024/25. Staffing pressures can also be aggravated by long-term absences: the share of teachers absent for more than two months reached 11% in Austria and 9% in Korea.

Shortages are rarely evenly distributed. They are often more severe in remote or disadvantaged areas and tend to be concentrated in particular subjects. Mathematics and natural sciences are especially affected, while shortages are generally less widespread in arts, social studies and physical education.

Education systems can make teaching more attractive through pay and working conditions, but other aspects are also important. Relationships with students, parents and school leaders, school climate, professional autonomy and public recognition all shape teachers’ job satisfaction.

Across the OECD, 85% of teachers report being satisfied with their jobs, broadly similar to workers in other professions. However, differences between countries are substantial. In Japan, where vacancies are low, teachers are 20 percentage points more likely to be satisfied with their jobs than workers in other professions. In Chile, which has the highest vacancy rate, teachers are 21 percentage points less likely to be satisfied.

Well-designed pathways for mid-career professionals can also expand and diversify the teacher workforce. Australia and the Netherlands, where more than 15% of lower secondary teachers are second-career teachers, offer flexible routes combining employment-based training with recognition of prior experience. In many other countries, however, such pathways remain limited.

Teacher shortages reflect a wider challenge facing countries: shortages of skilled workers. Population ageing, the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and strong demand for highly skilled workers can all make teacher recruitment more difficult.

In more than half of the countries with available data, vacancy rates appear to be higher in the economy overall than in teaching. As long as skilled workers remain scarce, education systems will continue to compete with other sectors for talent.

This increases the pressure not only to recruit more teachers, but also to use the existing workforce more effectively. Technology, specialised support staff and new ways of organising teaching could help teachers spend more of their time on the tasks where their expertise adds the greatest value.

Tertiary attainment continues to rise among young adults in most OECD countries, increasing on average from 40% of 25-34 year-olds in 2015 to 47% in 2025. Yet changing labour markets may affect the relevance and value of qualifications awarded by education systems. Between 2023 and 2025, unemployment among tertiary-educated 25-34 year-olds rose by 0.4 percentage points on average across the OECD, while it fell by 0.2 percentage points among those with upper secondary attainment. This was the first such divergence since the data series began in 2000.

It is too early to tell whether this increase in unemployment among young tertiary educated adults is a temporary fluctuation or the beginning of a more lasting shift. Education systems will therefore need to monitor these trends closely and be ready to adapt if the labour-market benefits of tertiary qualifications begin to weaken.