# Self-Enrichment Teachers

US SOC code 25-3021. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/25-3021

Also called: Community education instructor, Continuing education instructor, Personal enrichment instructor, Recreational class instructor, Craft teacher.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **332,110** US self-enrichment teachers, with median pay of **$46,800** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2021, the May 2025 count is the highest. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyceum_movement) of **15,000** from 1834, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for self-enrichment teachers: YouTube and early online course platforms, 2005 to 2015. The online course platforms bifurcated the self-enrichment teaching workforce into a high-earnings, high-scale creator layer and a persisting in-person layer with flat wages.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 3.5% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=25-3021&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **38%** 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.

## Self-Enrichment Teachers employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1826
- Latest US employment: 332,110 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [5]
- Latest US median pay: $46,800 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [10]
- Outlook: +3.5% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [27]

### In other countries

The latest figure each country's statistics agency publishes for this job. Each uses its own occupation definition, survey basis and currency, so the numbers are not directly comparable with each other or with the US figures.

- **United Kingdom** (UK SOC 2319)
  - Employment, 2022: 54,000. Source: ONS ASHE 2022 [6]. ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Table 14): employee jobs in SOC 2319 Teaching professionals n.e.c., United Kingdom, 2022 (ASHE "number of jobs", thousands x1000; excludes self-employment). Open Government Licence v3.0.
  - Median pay, 2022: £18,328. Source: ONS ASHE 2022 [12]. ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Table 14.7a): median gross annual pay for all employee jobs in SOC 2319 Teaching professionals n.e.c., United Kingdom, 2022. Open Government Licence v3.0.
- **Australia** (ANZSCO 2492)
  - Employment, 2025: 49,500. Source: ABS Labour Force Survey [7]. ABS Labour Force Survey (Detailed), table EQ08: employed persons in ANZSCO 2492 Private Tutors and Teachers, national (summed across sex and state/territory), annual average of 4 quarterly estimates.
  - Median pay, 2025: A$130,936. Source: ABS Employee Earnings May 2025 [13]. Annualised (x52) from A$2,518 median weekly earnings. ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025: median pay for full-time non-managerial employees paid at the adult rate, before tax. Surfaced via the Jobs and Skills Australia occupation profile.

### All 27 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1834 | 15,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Lyceum movement [1] |
| 1924 | 40,000 (estimate) | $1,200 (estimate) | Est., Chautauqua [2] |
| 1970 | 120,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Community Colleges in the United States [3] |
| 2000 | 230,000 (estimate) | $24,000 (estimate) | Est., O\*NET / BLS [4] |
| 2003 | 136,680 | $29,820 | BLS OEWS May 2003 [5] |
| 2004 | 141,180 | $30,880 | BLS OEWS May 2004 [5] |
| 2005 | 141,650 | $32,360 | BLS OEWS May 2005 [5] |
| 2006 | 149,700 | $33,440 | BLS OEWS May 2006 [5] |
| 2007 | 156,960 | $34,580 | BLS OEWS May 2007 [5] |
| 2008 | 163,190 | $35,720 | BLS OEWS May 2008 [5] |
| 2009 | 162,330 | $36,440 | BLS OEWS May 2009 [5] |
| 2010 | 160,990 | $36,340 | BLS OEWS May 2010 [5] |
| 2011 | 169,200 | $36,100 | BLS OEWS May 2011 [5] |
| 2012 | 179,650 | $35,320 | BLS OEWS May 2012 [5] |
| 2013 | 187,180 | $35,500 | BLS OEWS May 2013 [5] |
| 2014 | 202,360 | $36,020 | BLS OEWS May 2014 [5] |
| 2015 | 217,530 | $36,680 | BLS OEWS May 2015 [5] |
| 2016 | 229,840 | $37,330 | BLS OEWS May 2016 [5] |
| 2017 | 238,710 | $38,440 | BLS OEWS May 2017 [5] |
| 2018 | 243,080 | $38,720 | BLS OEWS May 2018 [5] |
| 2019 | 252,780 | $39,190 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [5] |
| 2020 | 222,700 | $39,960 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [5] |
| 2021 | 216,910 | $43,580 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [5] |
| 2022 | 248,150 | $44,110 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [5] |
| 2023 | 272,110 | $45,330 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [5] |
| 2024 | 308,520 | $45,590 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [5] |
| 2025 | 332,110 | $46,800 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [5] |

## Sources (107)

### Employment series

1. [Lyceum movement — Wikipedia (3,000 lyceums by 1834)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyceum_movement), Wikipedia
2. [Chautauqua — Wikipedia (peak 1920s: 10,000 communities, 45 million audience)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua), Wikipedia
3. [Community Colleges in the United States — Wikipedia (1 new college per week in the 1960s, enrollment 1M to 2.2M by 1970)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_colleges_in_the_United_States), Wikipedia
4. [O\*NET 25-3021.00 Summary (2000 SOC introduction reference; BLS employment trajectory note)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/25-3021.00), O\*NET / BLS
5. 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)
6. ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 2319, United Kingdom. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0., Office for National Statistics. Editions: [2006](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2006consistentw_007methodology/2006-table-14.zip), [2010](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2010revised/2010-revised-table-14.zip), [2011](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2011revisedbasedonsoc2010/2011-revised-table-14.zip), [2015](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2015/table142015revised.zip), [2020](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2020revised/table142020revised.zip), [2022](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2022revised/ashetable142022revised.zip)
7. [ABS: Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, table EQ08 (Employed persons by Occupation unit group, ANZSCO 2013), latest release](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia-detailed/latest-release), Australian Bureau of Statistics

### Wage series

8. [Chautauqua — Wikipedia (Chautauqua movement peak 1920s, talent fees context)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua), Wikipedia
9. [O\*NET 25-3021.00 Summary (BLS wage trajectory reference)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/25-3021.00), O\*NET / BLS
10. 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)
11. [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
12. ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 2319, United Kingdom. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0., Office for National Statistics. Editions: [2006](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2006consistentw_007methodology/2006-table-14.zip), [2010](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2010revised/2010-revised-table-14.zip), [2011](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2011revisedbasedonsoc2010/2011-revised-table-14.zip), [2015](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2015/table142015revised.zip), [2020](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2020revised/table142020revised.zip), [2022](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2022revised/ashetable142022revised.zip)
13. [Jobs and Skills Australia: Private Tutors and Teachers (ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025)](https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/data/occupation-and-industry-profiles/occupations/2492-private-tutors-and-teachers), Jobs and Skills Australia / Australian Bureau of Statistics

### Tool eras

14. [Lyceum movement — Wikipedia (Josiah Holbrook, 1826 founding, scientific apparatus)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyceum_movement), Wikipedia
15. [Chautauqua — Wikipedia (Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, 1878 first book club)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua), Wikipedia
16. [Chautauqua movement — Britannica (correspondence courses, general education expansion)](https://www.britannica.com/topic/chautauqua-movement), Encyclopaedia Britannica
17. [HISTORY — "Julia Child's The French Chef debuts" (February 11, 1963)](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/february-11/julia-child-french-chef-debuts), HISTORY Channel
18. [Julia Child — Wikipedia (PBS debut 1963, Peabody and Emmy)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Child), Wikipedia
19. [Community college — Wikipedia (continuing education as third mission, 1960s-1970s expansion)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_college), Wikipedia
20. [BLS Career Outlook — "The changing role of community college" (2002)](https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2002/winter/art02.pdf), Bureau of Labor Statistics
21. [Coursera and Udemy merger announcement — About Udemy (95,000 instructors, 290M learners combined)](https://about.udemy.com/udemy-news/coursera-udemy-merger-skills-platform/), Udemy
22. [YouTube — Wikipedia (founded 2005)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube), Wikipedia
23. [PMC — "Moving Education Online During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Thinking Back and Looking Ahead" (2021)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8572807/), PubMed Central / NIH
24. [MagicSchool AI — Platform Overview (5M+ educators, 80+ tools)](https://www.magicschool.ai/), MagicSchool AI
25. [Kajabi — Online Courses: AI course outline generator (enable AI to generate a course outline with modules and lessons based on your topic)](https://kajabi.com/product/online-courses), Kajabi
26. [Synthesia — AI Training Course Generator (2025)](https://www.synthesia.io/tools/ai-training-course-generator), Synthesia

### Forecasts and exposure studies

27. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 25-3021 Self-enrichment teachers (2025: 419.1 thousand; 2035: 433.7 thousand; +3.5%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=25-3021&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
28. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 25-3021.00, human-rated β 0.38)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

29. [Lyceum movement — Wikipedia (Josiah Holbrook, 1826)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyceum_movement), Wikipedia
30. [Chautauqua — Wikipedia (founding 1874, peak 1920s, 45 million audience)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua), Wikipedia
31. [YMCA — Our History: The 1900s](https://www.ymca.org/who-we-are/our-history/1900s), YMCA of the USA
32. [Indra Devi — Wikipedia (1948 Hollywood studio, first yoga school in Los Angeles)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indra_Devi), Wikipedia
33. [HISTORY — "Julia Child's The French Chef debuts" (February 11, 1963)](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/february-11/julia-child-french-chef-debuts), HISTORY Channel
34. [Community college — Wikipedia (continuing education as third mission, Adult Education Act context)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_college), Wikipedia
35. [Yoga in the United States — Wikipedia (Yoga Journal founded 1975; 36.7 million practitioners by 2016)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_in_the_United_States), Wikipedia
36. [Coursera and Udemy merger — About Udemy (combined 290M learners, 95,000 instructors)](https://about.udemy.com/udemy-news/coursera-udemy-merger-skills-platform/), Udemy
37. [PMC — "Moving Education Online During the COVID-19 Pandemic" (2021)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8572807/), PubMed Central / NIH

### Predecessors & successors

38. [Lyceum movement — Wikipedia (Josiah Holbrook, 1826)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyceum_movement), Wikipedia
39. [Chautauqua — Wikipedia (movement founding 1874, peak 1920s)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua), Wikipedia
40. [YMCA — Our History: The 1900s (YMCA college programs, liberal arts and vocational courses)](https://www.ymca.org/who-we-are/our-history/1900s), YMCA of the USA

### Present-day analysis

- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-06-03
- [O\*NET 30.3 — Self-Enrichment Teachers (25-3021.00)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/25-3021.00), accessed 2026-06-03
- [BLS OEWS — Self-Enrichment Teachers, May 2023 (417,500 employed; median $45,590)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/oes253021.htm), accessed 2026-06-03
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Self-Enrichment Teachers (2024-34 projections)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/self-enrichment-teachers.htm), accessed 2026-06-03
- [WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025 — AI will displace 92M jobs but create 170M new ones](https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/10/education-disruptive-ai-workforce-opportunities/), accessed 2026-06-03
- [Engageli — 25 AI in Education Statistics 2026 (AI in education market $6.9B in 2025, 42.83% CAGR to 2030)](https://www.engageli.com/blog/ai-in-education-statistics), accessed 2026-06-03
- [MagicSchool AI — Platform Overview (5M+ educators, 80+ tools, 2026 updates)](https://www.magicschool.ai/), accessed 2026-06-03
- [Kajabi — AI Creator Hub and AI Course Generator (2025)](https://kajabi.com/features/online-courses), accessed 2026-06-03
- [Synthesia — AI Training Course Generator (2025)](https://www.synthesia.io/tools/ai-training-course-generator), accessed 2026-06-03
- [CallSphere — AI Agents in Education: Khan Academy and Duolingo deploy autonomous tutoring agents to 50M students](https://callsphere.ai/blog/ai-agents-education-khan-academy-duolingo-autonomous-tutoring), accessed 2026-06-03
- [EdWeek — AI Won't Replace Teachers But Teachers Who Use AI Will Change Teaching (2025)](https://www.edweek.org/technology/opinion-ai-wont-replace-teachers-but-teachers-who-use-ai-will-change-teaching/2025/10), accessed 2026-06-03
- [BloggingX — How Much Udemy Course Creators Earn 2026 (top instructor $2M+ since 2014)](https://bloggingx.com/udemy-course-creator-earnings/), accessed 2026-06-03
- [Teachfloor — 9 Best AI Course Curriculum Generators 2026](https://www.teachfloor.com/blog/ai-curriculum-generator), accessed 2026-06-03
- [MagicSchool AI — AI Teaching Tools for Planning, Assessment and Feedback (2026)](https://www.magicschool.ai/blog-posts/ai-teaching-tools-updates-2026), accessed 2026-06-03

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