George Osborne will announce plans this week to plug gaps in the school skills shortage by offering highly qualified maths and physics postgraduates £40,000 salaries if they go straight into teaching.

The scheme to place PhDs in non-selective state schools – which is to start in September – is sponsored by major employers such as GlaxoSmithKline, Nationwide Building Society and BAE Systems, with each contributing £75,000 over three years to cover the additional pay and training costs.

The £40,000 starting salary for holders of PhDs in maths and physics compares favourably to basic starting salaries of £21,600 to £27,000 for newly qualified teachers in the state sector.

The teachers, to be known as "maths and physics chairs", are expected to undertake on-the-job training for a teaching qualification.

The scheme will be run through a new initiative called Researchers in Schools, which supports trainees to become classroom teachers while maintaining a research profile. The chairs will also be expected to import recent expertise into classrooms and help pupils get work experience at the businesses that have sponsored them.

The Department for Education said the chairs could conduct masterclasses for pupils in networks of schools, establish links between schools and universities, and share their skills through online teaching resources.

"By getting experts into schools we can build a pipeline from GCSE through to A-level and beyond into the world of work. Teenagers studying these subjects will go to underpin a flourishing UK economy," said Liz Truss, the schools minister.

The numbers recruited are likely to be small, given the relatively small numbers of domestic postdoctoral students in physics and maths in the UK. However, a shortage of university-level jobs and the low-paid, temporary contracts prevalent in the sector could make teaching an attractive option.