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Kymro
Joined: 19 Oct 2003
Posts: 244
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spiral78
Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash
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 Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 12:57 pm Post subject: |
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I converted zloty into Czech koruna, and, yes, it would be about average for the majority of Czechs.
The thing is that most locals in either country
1. don't pay expat rental rates for housing (the biggest expense for teachers, usually)
2. do have at least two incomes in their families
3. pay far less than most North Americans would for higher education (little/no student loan debt for young adults starting out)
So, 'average local salaries' don't really reflect the cost of living an expat in the country will face, and locals in this region are more likely to be debt-free, or nearly so, than North Americans would be. Can't speak for UKians, though I guess the liklihood of being saddled with student loan debt is getting pretty high there too. |
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Pooledogg
Joined: 04 Aug 2010
Posts: 20
Location: England
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| Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 1:12 pm Post subject: |
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| but when you want to go on holiday the price is the same not lower because you are in a poorer country. I have no savings in Poland. |
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Master Shake
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1202
Location: Colorado, USA
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| Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 11:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Pooledogg wrote: |
| but when you want to go on holiday the price is the same not lower because you are in a poorer country. |
This is one of the worst things about TEFL-ing in Poland.
Sure, I think most of us can at least get by while we're here. But when the summer vacation comes rolling round and we convert what we've saved (if we're lucky) into dollars, pounds or Euro... 
The Ukraine is the only worthwhile, nearby place I can think of for a cheap vacation.
Still, I suppose Poland pays better than what many Central/South American countries pay TEFEL-ers... |
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hrvatski
Joined: 16 Nov 2008
Posts: 270
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| Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:17 am Post subject: |
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That's exactly why I got out, just can't justify earning that little on an international scale. I'm pleased the new iPad coming to my door on Friday only costs an 8th of my monthly salary, and not half  |
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Pooledogg
Joined: 04 Aug 2010
Posts: 20
Location: England
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| Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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| I spend my summers working at summer school in the uk. Better money. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 8:15 pm Post subject: ah |
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| Now you know why Poland is not - for most EFLers - a place to stay for too long ! Riyadh anyone ? |
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sharter
Joined: 25 Jun 2008
Posts: 878
Location: All over the place
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| Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 10:17 am Post subject: erm |
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According to the BBC World (Weekend World)Poland report today, which featured Poland 800 to 1,000 Dollars a month is the national average. Where Delph et al get their figures the lord only knows. I'd go with the BBC. In Zloty that's what? 3,168PLN minus 20% tax.
A cheap hotel costs, $75 a night, rent about $500 (if you're lucky), clothes and electrical stuff more than the UK and god forbid you get sick and have to pay for medicine. Oh and then most TEFLers have to scramble for work between June and October. How are you going to pay for the $500 pram and the $500 cot and so on which you'll need when you marry your hotty?
How many here have kids.....interesting though innit? Then you've got the flights to see the relatives too.
Of course there'll be a few here who'll tell us they earn a gadzillion Zloty teaching 220 hours a week and then the cow will jump over the parmesan moon.
It's over. |
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dynow
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 1080
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| Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 2:02 pm Post subject: Re: erm |
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| sharter wrote: |
I'd go with the BBC. In Zloty that's what? 3,168PLN minus 20% tax.
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that's just tax. what about ZUS deductions?
i don't know why it's so difficult for a real number to be settled on. if i wanted to find out the mean income for any state in the USA or the country as a whole, it's 5 seconds on Google. Poland? it's like this big mystery that nobody can agree on and every website, news article, will all give you a different number. |
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posh
Joined: 22 Oct 2010
Posts: 430
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 11:54 am Post subject: Re: erm |
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| sharter wrote: |
| How are you going to pay for the $500 pram and the $500 cot and so on which you'll need when you marry your hotty? |
What!? You need to improvise with a wooden box nailed to a skateboard and a sack of potatoes, keeping costs down to $6. |
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lundjstuart
Joined: 01 Jul 2008
Posts: 211
Location: Warsaw, Poland
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 6:30 pm Post subject: Re: erm |
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| dynow wrote: |
| sharter wrote: |
I'd go with the BBC. In Zloty that's what? 3,168PLN minus 20% tax.
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what about ZUS deductions?
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If you're employed somewhere, you wouldn't have to pay ZUS on your end. The employer is required to pay. |
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dynow
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 1080
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| Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2012 10:09 pm Post subject: Re: erm |
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[/quote]
If you're employed somewhere, you wouldn't have to pay ZUS on your end. The employer is required to pay.[/quote]
yes yes, but that's more of my point. is that number brutto before any deductions? after taxes? after ZUS? after ZUS and taxes?
this is what i mean. the number is never really clear. |
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Master Shake
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1202
Location: Colorado, USA
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| Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 10:23 pm Post subject: Re: erm |
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| dynow wrote: |
yes yes, but that's more of my point. is that number brutto before any deductions? after taxes? after ZUS? after ZUS and taxes?
this is what i mean. the number is never really clear. |
Poles are pretty crafty about finding ways of reducing their reported taxable income while at the same time earning extra money.
Think about how many Poles have started their own 'companies' in order for their employers to pay less tax. Now every employee claims everything and the kitchen sink as a business expense.
Add to this all the little tax-free, cash-in-hand jobs Poles manage to come by. My gf's brother made 1000zl a day selling flowers over Easter, for example.
This opportunism is much less common in America (at least from people in the lower income brackets). It also makes it difficult to arrive at an honest figure.
I'd add a healthy 500-1000zl/mo to any officially released figures. Call it the kombinowac factor. |
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Jack Walker
Joined: 23 Oct 2008
Posts: 412
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 9:28 pm Post subject: Re: erm |
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| Master Shake wrote: |
| dynow wrote: |
yes yes, but that's more of my point. is that number brutto before any deductions? after taxes? after ZUS? after ZUS and taxes?
this is what i mean. the number is never really clear. |
Poles are pretty crafty about finding ways of reducing their reported taxable income while at the same time earning extra money.
Think about how many Poles have started their own 'companies' in order for their employers to pay less tax. Now every employee claims everything and the kitchen sink as a business expense.
Add to this all the little tax-free, cash-in-hand jobs Poles manage to come by. My gf's brother made 1000zl a day selling flowers over Easter, for example.
This opportunism is much less common in America (at least from people in the lower income brackets). It also makes it difficult to arrive at an honest figure.
I'd add a healthy 500-1000zl/mo to any officially released figures. Call it the kombinowac factor. |
Definitely. The majority of Poles are not as poor as they claim to be.
They've always got the sad face on, but all the teens have the modern tech gadgets and clothing and most of my old friends had the 50 inch plasmas,new cars,2 weeks in Turkey, a week in the alps skiing in winter, weekly mega shopping trips to Auchan and of course, the majority of young Poles are all real estate barons.
Most of them seemingly have 5 or 6 flats which they own outright and rent out without reporting the rent as income.
Check out an expensive store like Sephora on a Saturday afternoon.The young birds are flying outta there with sacks of expensive merchandise.Might be a lot of plastic used, but it's still spending power in the end.
With respect to the average monthly salary in Poland,it seems to be one of the world's best guarded secrets. I gave up trying to figure it out long ago.It's probably not as low as you'd think, but not as high as you'd imagined....if that makes sense! |
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dynow
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 1080
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| Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:15 am Post subject: Re: erm |
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| Jack Walker wrote: |
| It's probably not as low as you'd think, but not as high as you'd imagined....if that makes sense! |
You made some sense right up to this point
JW wrote:
| Quote: |
| all the teens have the modern tech gadgets and clothing and most of my old friends had the 50 inch plasmas,new cars,2 weeks in Turkey, a week in the alps skiing in winter, weekly mega shopping trips to Auchan and of course, the majority of young Poles are all real estate barons. |
Aside from the occasional real estate baron thing, I didn't see much of this. My students were mostly poor with crummy phones, no car (or a jalopy) and vacation generally involved packing 10 days worth of food into a backpack and a 11 hour train ride.
JW wrote:
| Quote: |
Most of them seemingly have 5 or 6 flats which they own outright and rent out without reporting the rent as income.
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my first apartment involved plenty of that, clear as day they were scheming. |
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