Job Discussion Forums

[viovio]

I have been asked to provide my salary expectations, but I have absolutely no idea of how much money to ask for.
I found in some website that you need about $6000 US a month to live in Guadalajara, is that correct?
How much do you think is a fair amount?

[MikeySaid]

Umm... That might be $6000 MXN. (to clarify, forgot a zero)

US $6000/mo in Guadalajara will put you in the lap of Luxury.
Check the website you read, the Mexicans used the $ symbol before the gringos.

[ls650]

$10 MX = $1 US, so $6000 pesos would be about $600 US.
I'm not sure about Guadalajara, but in much of Mexico that would be considered decent but not great wages. I suspect that there $6000 MX would take care of your monthly rent and various bills, but leave little for saving or travel.

I've never understood why Mexico didn't adopt a different symbol. A 'P' with a slash would have worked just as well.

[Guy Courchesne]

There are a few countries that use the term 'peso'...I wonder if any others have bothered to come up with a symbol? Argentina, Chile, Colombia, even the Philippines.

I think that in Guadalajara, 6000 Mexican pesos is a good floor to start from. Under that, and you may struggle there. Over it, and you can start to save, travel about, or buy better tequila.

You didn't tell us, however, how many hours you're expected to work and in what type of school. 6000 pesos working 40 a week is not great. On 20, it's not bad at all.

[viovio]

http://www.solutionsabroad.com/a_costoflivingmexico.asp



Well, I still do not know how many hours or anything. How much do you think is a fair amount for an hour?

[Guy Courchesne]

That's quite the cost-of-living guide. I think it's probably reflects living a US lifestyle and not a Mexican one. I can't remember if you mentioned it elsewhere, but will you be supporting a family here? In that case, I can see how a family of four, driving an SUV, having a cook, maid, and butler, with two kids at the most expensive school in the land might spend 6000 usd per month here.

If you have no kids, cut education costs. If you have no car, cut all those associated costs. If you have no wife, add the table dancer costs.

Per hour, in Guadalajara, you should be earning a th very least a minimum of 50 pesos per hour, but you didn't say what kind of school is offering you the job.

[business2300]

Guy, would you consider $5000 pesos per month including free furnished housing for a 30 hour work week ...... a good deal?

[Guy Courchesne]

I think it's on the lower end of things...is this an entry level position? A language school? In Guadalajara or elsewhere? Is that 30 hours in-class time? So many questions...

[business2300]

Yes, its at a small language school in Michoacan, in a large town. I've been a business teacher for many years, have taken the esl course, and will be entry level in the esl field, but not the teaching field.
I would be teaching 25 hours per week, and no other time in the school. The housing is paid.

[J Sevigny]

You could survive in Guadalajara on 6,000 pesos a month but that's about it.

People ask questions about cost of living in Mexico all the time and it's very difficult to answer because only you know what "living" means to you.

For example, one teacher I know lives in a house with four or five other people and pays 800 pesos a month rent. He has no car. He earns more than 12,000 a month so he's able to save quite a bit of money.

Another I know drives a car that requires constant maintenance, lives in more normally priced apartment (2,000-4,000) and doesn't save anything.

I agree with Guy that 6,000 is probably a good foundation but that the minimum here is probably closer to 7,000.

[ls650]

30 hours is a lot of class time. I'd want a great salary to knock myself out with that many hours... and I wouldn't call 5000 pesos a great salary (even with good furnished housing) anywhere in Mexico.[/i]