# Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary

US SOC code 25-1194. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/25-1194

Also called: CTE postsec instructor, CTE faculty, Vocational education teacher, Vocational instructor, Trade school instructor.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **114,110** US postsecondary career/technical education teachers, with median pay of **$63,820** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2021, the May 2025 count is the highest. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://www.va.gov/vetdata/docs/FBVEFY1917.pdf) of **8,000** from 1917, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era in this work: AI-enhanced LMS analytics + AR/VR simulation platforms, 2015 to 2022.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects little or no change in employment from 2025 to 2035 (-0.3%). Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=25-1194&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **44.9%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend.

## Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1862
- Latest US employment: 114,110 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [4]
- Latest US median pay: $63,820 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [7]
- Outlook: -0.3% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [22]

### All 28 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1917 | 8,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., VA / Federal Board for Vocational… [1] |
| 1963 | 45,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Wikipedia [2] |
| 1975 | n/a | $12,500 (estimate) | Est., National Center for Education Statistics [5] |
| 1982 | 120,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., AACC / AACJC 1982 survey [3] |
| 1990 | n/a | $28,000 (estimate) | Est., NCES [6] |
| 2003 | 121,090 | $39,740 | BLS OEWS May 2003 [4] |
| 2004 | 112,990 | $40,740 | BLS OEWS May 2004 [4] |
| 2005 | 105,980 | $41,750 | BLS OEWS May 2005 [4] |
| 2006 | 109,360 | $43,900 | BLS OEWS May 2006 [4] |
| 2007 | 112,300 | $45,850 | BLS OEWS May 2007 [4] |
| 2008 | 112,940 | $47,330 | BLS OEWS May 2008 [4] |
| 2009 | 114,420 | $47,950 | BLS OEWS May 2009 [4] |
| 2010 | 120,290 | $48,210 | BLS OEWS May 2010 [4] |
| 2011 | 125,160 | $48,790 | BLS OEWS May 2011 [4] |
| 2012 | 121,550 | $47,990 | BLS OEWS May 2012 [4] |
| 2013 | 121,360 | $48,300 | BLS OEWS May 2013 [4] |
| 2014 | 121,200 | $48,360 | BLS OEWS May 2014 [4] |
| 2015 | 119,800 | $49,470 | BLS OEWS May 2015 [4] |
| 2016 | 116,430 | $50,660 | BLS OEWS May 2016 [4] |
| 2017 | 114,020 | $51,600 | BLS OEWS May 2017 [4] |
| 2018 | 110,400 | $53,120 | BLS OEWS May 2018 [4] |
| 2019 | 112,210 | $54,620 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [4] |
| 2020 | 105,830 | $55,620 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [4] |
| 2021 | 105,440 | $59,840 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [4] |
| 2022 | 103,100 | $59,840 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [4] |
| 2023 | 111,180 | $62,060 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [4] |
| 2024 | 111,150 | $61,490 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [4] |
| 2025 | 114,110 | $63,820 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [4] |

## Sources (86)

### Employment series

1. [VA / Federal Board for Vocational Education Annual Report 1917 (Smith-Hughes Act implementation)](https://www.va.gov/vetdata/docs/FBVEFY1917.pdf), Federal Board for Vocational Education / US Government
2. [Wikipedia — Community colleges in the United States (historical enrollment and campus growth data)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_colleges_in_the_United_States), Wikipedia / NCES underlying sources
3. [AACC / AACJC 1982 survey — community, technical, and junior college teaching faculty count (reported in ERIC secondary sources)](https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1873/Community-Colleges.html), AACC / StateUniversity.com historical reference
4. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)

### Wage series

5. [NCES Digest of Education Statistics historical tables — average faculty salary, 2-year institutions (1970s)](https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/), National Center for Education Statistics
6. [NCES — "Vocational Education in the United States: 1969-1990" (NCES 92-669) — faculty characteristics and program funding](https://nces.ed.gov/pubs92/92669.pdf), National Center for Education Statistics
7. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
8. [BLS OEWS May 2024, national cross-industry estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Tool eras

9. [Morrill Land-Grant Acts — National Archives (signed July 2, 1862, Lincoln; mandated instruction in agriculture and the mechanic arts)](https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/morrill-act), National Archives
10. [Origins / Ohio State — "Democratizing American Higher Education: The Legacy of the Morrill Land Grant Act"](https://origins.osu.edu/article/democratizing-american-higher-education-legacy-morrill-land-grant-act), Origins / The Ohio State University
11. [Smith-Hughes Act — Wikipedia (50-25-25 rule, enrollment growth from 200,000 in 1917 to 3.4M in 1957)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith%E2%80%93Hughes_Act), Wikipedia
12. [Britannica — Smith-Hughes Act (federal funding for vocational education teacher salaries)](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Smith-Hughes-Act), Encyclopaedia Britannica
13. [Community Colleges in America: A Historical Perspective (Drury) — ERIC EJ876835 (one college per week in 1960s; enrollment 1.6M to 4.5M by 1980)](https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ876835.pdf), ERIC / College Quarterly
14. [Wikipedia — Vocational Education in the United States (Vocational Education Act 1963, Great Society context)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocational_education_in_the_United_States), Wikipedia
15. [Wikipedia — Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act (1984 original act, 1990 Perkins II reauthorization)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_D._Perkins_Vocational_and_Technical_Education_Act), Wikipedia
16. [ACTE — "The Future of CTE" (2025): CTE accreditation bodies require faculty to hold active industry credentials; credential alignment intensified under Perkins accountability frameworks](https://www.acteonline.org/), Association for Career and Technical Education
17. [Wikipedia — Blackboard Inc. (Blackboard Learn LMS history, adoption in higher education from 1997)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackboard_Inc.), Wikipedia
18. [Lincoln Electric - Virtual Trainers (VRTEX virtual reality arc welding simulators), archived via Wayback Machine](https://web.archive.org/web/20211127092406/https://www.lincolnelectric.com/en/Products/Equipment/Training-Equipment/Virtual-Trainers), Lincoln Electric
19. [Labster — virtual lab platform (300+ simulations, 2,500+ institutions globally, 2025 documentation)](https://www.labster.com/), Labster
20. [zSpace — AR/VR CTE learning platform (deployed at 4,000+ schools and colleges, 2025)](https://zspace.com/), zSpace
21. [AACC — CTE faculty AI readiness survey (2025): 62% of CTE faculty use AI for administrative tasks; 38% have integrated AI simulation into lab preparation sequences](https://www.aacc.nche.edu/), American Association of Community Colleges

### Forecasts and exposure studies

22. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 25-1194 Career/technical education teachers, postsecondary (2025: 123.1 thousand; 2035: 122.7 thousand; -0.3%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=25-1194&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
23. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 25-1194.00, human-rated β 0.449)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

24. [Morrill Land-Grant Acts — National Archives (milestone document)](https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/morrill-act), National Archives
25. [Smith-Hughes Act — Wikipedia (50-25-25 requirement; enrollment growth to 3.4M by 1957)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith%E2%80%93Hughes_Act), Wikipedia
26. [Community Colleges in America: A Historical Perspective (Drury, ERIC EJ876835) — Great Society expansion, one college per week rate](https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ876835.pdf), ERIC / College Quarterly
27. [NCES — "Vocational Education in the United States: 1969-1990" (NCES 92-669)](https://nces.ed.gov/pubs92/92669.pdf), National Center for Education Statistics
28. [Wikipedia — Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act (1984 original act and reauthorization history)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_D._Perkins_Vocational_and_Technical_Education_Act), Wikipedia
29. [NCES — Vocational Education in the United States (Web 95024-2): 5.8 million enrolled in postsecondary vocational programs in 1990; 35% of all undergraduate enrollment](https://nces.ed.gov/pubs/web/95024-2.asp), National Center for Education Statistics
30. [APM Reports — "The Troubled History of Vocational Education" (2014): No Child Left Behind accountability; 37% of CTE students completing college-prep curriculum by 2014](https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2014/09/09/the-troubled-history-of-vocational-education), APM Reports
31. [Wikipedia — Community Colleges in the United States (enrollment peak 7,030,516 in 2010; decline to 4,824,204 by 2020)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_colleges_in_the_United_States), Wikipedia
32. [Congress.gov CRS Report R47071 — Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V): A Primer](https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47071), Congressional Research Service

### Predecessors & successors

33. [ACTE — "The Future of CTE" (2025): CTE accreditation bodies require faculty to hold active industry credentials in the program's trade area as a condition of program approval](https://www.acteonline.org/), Association for Career and Technical Education
34. [CCRC — "AI and the Community College CTE Workforce" (2025): CTE faculty practitioner networks are primary placement channel; corporate L&D cited as growing destination](https://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/), Community College Research Center

### Present-day analysis

- [O\*NET 30.3 — Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary (25-1194.00)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/25-1194.00), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) — "AI in CTE: Emerging Practices" (2025): CTE faculty early adopters report 20-30% reduction in non-instructional administrative time; AI simulation tools expanding safe-repetitions before live-equipment contact](https://www.acteonline.org/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Community College Research Center (CCRC) — "AI and the Community College CTE Workforce" (2025): student completion in CTE most sensitive to instructor-led hands-on time; theory delivery increasingly AI-augmentable but coaching in live labs remains high-impact human task](https://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) — CTE faculty AI readiness survey (2025): 62% of CTE faculty report using AI tools for administrative tasks; 38% have integrated AI simulation into lab preparation sequences](https://www.aacc.nche.edu/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [BLS OES 2024 — Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary (25-1194): median annual wage $62,720; approximately 131,000 employed; +3% projected growth 2024-2034](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes251194.htm), accessed 2026-05-24
- [McKinsey Global Institute — "A New Future of Work: The Race Between Humans and Machines" (2024): education and training roles anchored in physical task supervision and practitioner-level expertise show lower automation exposure than administrative or theory-delivery roles](https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/overview), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Blackboard Ultra AI Design Assistant — automated course communications, at-risk student alerts, and administrative reporting automation (Anthology, 2025)](https://www.blackboard.com/products/teaching-and-learning/learning-effectiveness/blackboard-lms), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Canvas LMS AI — Intelligent Insights and AI-Assist: at-risk student flagging, engagement analytics, and AI-assisted course content generation (Instructure, 2025)](https://www.instructure.com/canvas), accessed 2026-05-24

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.