Pincer movement

A special study by the International Labor Organization of the United Nations concludes that the teaching profession in Western democracies appears to be caught in a "pincer movement:" Falling birth rates are reducing enrollments causing the elimination of classes and closure of schools on the one hand, while a worldwide economic slump is curtailing government expenditures on the other.

Though statistics are hard to come by, the study cites the following 1980 figures: 11,430 registered unemployed teachers in Belgium, 10,000 in Canada, 10, 300 in the Federal Republic of Germany, and 37,400 in the United Kingdom.