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How are wages holding up where you are?

 
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Teacher in Rome



Joined: 09 Jul 2003
Posts: 1286

PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:20 am    Post subject: How are wages holding up where you are? Reply with quote

From a brief skimming of vacancies I've seen recently, the overall picture looks grim - especially in Europe.

Just when we thought wages were stagnant, it seems they're heading south in a number of places.

Recent threads in the UK forum tell of jobs advertised at �10 p/h. Certainly not enough to live on.

In Spain - up till now a reasonably-paid destination - we're dipping under the �1000 net pcm threshold.

Don't even talk about Italy. One job offered at �600 a month. True, a car is on offer, as is profit share (not quantified) and "other deals on the table" (not quantified either). Or a 2-week summer course paid at �450 per two weeks...

In the rest of the world? How are salary / benefits faring? Are they at least keeping pace with inflation and living costs, or are they going up / down?
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Glenski



Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here in Japan, entry level wages are falling and have been doing so for the past 5 years or so.

What used to be a given typical monthly pre-tax salary of 250,000 yen is now down to 200,000-230,000 or thereabouts. Also, employers are legally avoiding copayments into national health insurance with a loophole in the system that doesn't seem to be getting fixed.

Some employers, of course, are offering even less than the above figure, as low as 170,000 at times, and for full-time work! People seem willing to take the low paying jobs either because they are desperate, or they are from a country where even this is a high wage.

Prior to all this, the 250K figure was pretty constant for 15-20 years, so you figure whether that keeps pace with inflation.
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tttompatz



Joined: 06 Mar 2010
Posts: 1951
Location: Talibon, Bohol, Philippines

PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 10:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Korea = stagnant at the entry level and rising slightly for those with knowledge, ability and the wherewithal that Ghod gave to green apples.
Entry level jobs have a reasonable standard of living and the ability to save about �600/month.

China = rising wages at the entry level (3k RMB in 2008 and 6-12k RMB now) with a reasonable standard of living (private housing, utilities and airfare/travel allowances) for those who have the required qualifications and can deal with China.

Thailand = Stagnant wages at the entry level (30-40k thb with no benefits) for a qualified (Ba + TEFL) native speaker and 15-20 for other teachers (NNS, etc).

As always, for those with real teaching qualifications (PGCE + QTS / B.Ed + teacher cert) it is a competitive field (teaching in English) but remuneration packages (wages and benefits) are pretty decent just about everywhere (in Asia).
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Denim-Maniac



Joined: 31 Jan 2012
Posts: 1238

PostPosted: Mon Jan 21, 2013 11:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

tttompatz wrote:


China = rising wages at the entry level (3k RMB in 2008 and 6-12k RMB now) with a reasonable standard of living (private housing, utilities and airfare/travel allowances) for those who have the required qualifications and can deal with China.



My experience is different for China. My Chinese employer hasnt raised basic salaries for FT's since 2008, or possibly for even longer. People who are renewing and extending contracts take advantage of small increases based on service, but new employees are starting on the same salary I was introduced to in 2008. Inflation is quite an issue in China with quite large increases on basic staple items.

Forum chatter tends to support my experience with old hands often commenting 'I started on more than that in 2006' when discussing newbie contract offers.

In 2013, my UK employer is offering between �11.50 and �17.00 per hour. Very very slight increases year on year but these hourly increases are more a sign of goodwill then a reflection of inflation etc.
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AGL81



Joined: 18 Nov 2012
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 11:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My impressions of Spain:

Experienced teachers with a good track record: generally rising, due to two factors. 1) Academies that depend on them are feeling more pressure from clients, especially companies, to make every cent they spend count. Best way to do this is to send them a top teacher. Best way to keep a top teacher is to pay him/her well (and not give them a ridiculous timetable) 2) Experienced teachers with contacts cannot handle all the private students, and can pick and choose the classes with the best wages/times etc.

Newbies: plummeting. Several reasons for this.

1) Lots of unscrupulous, especially small/neighborhood-ish, academy owners want to maintain their profit margins. Easiest way to do this? Pay your teachers less.

2) At bigger/more reputable academies, which depend on in-company classes and in-academy classes, the company classes have dried up enormously. A few years ago a new teacher could walk into a 30+ hour a week schedule with companies through one of the big schools. No longer the case, 20-22/hrs is much more normal. And in-academy classes have spacial and logistical limits to how much demand they can absorb.

3) Generally, a lot of people aren't willing or can't spend a lot of money, on classes or anything else. So people looking for private teachers without recommendations go by price, or private teachers without contacts/references, are using price to attract students. I've seen ads for people offering private, individual class at �10/hour and even less.
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johntpartee



Joined: 02 Mar 2010
Posts: 3258

PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 1:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
My experience is different for China


Mine is different still. Every position I've checked into pays about 500 yuan more per month than in 2008 with the same perks.
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Grimace420



Joined: 24 Sep 2011
Posts: 88
Location: Madriz

PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 3:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

AGL81 wrote:
My impressions of Spain . . .


You're pretty much spot on with what you've said and I agree with you. I think it's difficult to speak for Spain as a whole country, though. There are some pretty vast price differences between various locations. 10 euros an hour in somewhere like Extremadura could actually be quite acceptable. In somewhere like Madrid, you'd have to be crazy. And I know there are plenty of people offering that much on websites looking for private tutoring. I'm sure the quality of teacher willing to accept that amount is on par with the quality of student offering it.
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