Which should I teach--elementary school or secondary social studies?

[Wanttoteach]

I have an MA in a social science. I'm planning to get a post-bac in teaching. I can't decide between teaching secondary social studies or elementary. On one hand, I love social science and have experience teaching this subject at the college level. On the other, I'm under the impression that the social studies teaching market is saturated. Is this true? If I taught elementary, I'd only really want to teach the older grades (3rd-5th). Are there any teachers out there that can provide guidance, or inform me of other factors to consider? Thanks!

[Up]

Yes, the social studies market is saturated at the moment. The big areas are math, science, ESL, and special ed.

In addition, finding a regular teaching job with a master's might be hard to find because schools wouldn't want to pay their employees more than they have to (higher degree = higher salary).

Another thing to consider is that if you decide to go into elementary teaching, you would be certified to teach from K-6 or K-8, and with this market especially, it'll be hard for you to choose to teach in only the upper grades. You might very well end up teaching the lower grades. So if you have a strong preference for older students, you might want to stick with secondary education.