Job Discussion Forums

[mark_in_saigon]

I wonder if people could comment on the relative number of western teachers at their schools now, compared to last year. After Tet was supposed to be when the situation revealed itself more fully. I have read a lot about people planning on leaving, and seen some comments from people who said their list of phone numbers was much shorter. So I am wondering if any people have some raw data from their schools.

As a side note, I have had some conversations with westerners who have lived here long term and work in other fields, and they are getting the same general treatment, with less hiring of the foreigners, more hiring directed towards the native workers, more visa fees and shorter lengths, and difficulty in getting work permits.

[TimkinMS]

[jb0072009]

The economy here is definitely going bad. You only have to read the SGGP or Thanh Nien newspapers to see many articles to that effect. One article yesterday said that many retailers are having to slash prices because their business is way down from this time last year. Today I read that inflation is at a 10 month high. Also today I read that they predict construction will be down 53% this year. They are also predicting that the stock market here will be bad this year as well. Another article says that there are many unemployed skilled workers whilst they are having problems finding unskilled workers who they pay less. Well TIV (this is Vietnam)

[Andy123]

Things are always slow after Tet. Is this year different? How long will it be until things pick up? It�s anyone�s guess.

It is true that several international financial news outlets are predicting a big slump in the Vietnamese market by midyear. Who knows for sure?

I go to the supermarket twice a week and have noticed large increases in products that I buy regularly. Imported items and meat particularly up 20% or more.

I hear that enrollment at VUS (the largest private language school in Vietnam) is down especially in the kiddy classes. Many teachers are screaming about a lack of hours.

I recently received an unsolicited job offer from a school that in the past has paid $18 an hour and a minimum of 20 contact hours a week. Now they are paying $14 an hour with a guarantee of 10 hours a week.

It is time to budget your money. This is not doom and gloom but a reflection of the times. I think it will be a good year before things improve.

[mark_in_saigon]

I think the economic situation is a very interesting and important topic. Perhaps we should create a thread on that specifically. I bet a lot of folks would love to see that discussed in detail. On this one, I was hoping to find specific information on the numbers of foreigners who have left due to no work or visa/wp difficulties. I am over in Tan Binh at this time, and I rarely see a westerner over here. But that is just anecdotal of course, that is why I was hoping to hear some specific numbers from inside the schools.

[The Fat Rabbit]

my school is packed with more students than last year for sure. As for the teachers, they're all still here.

[Andy123]

Sounds like ILA. I hear they are doing very well. They have a very good reputation for quality but remember they are expensive. They have a history of attracting the brightest and financially secure upper end students.

As for the other schools, I see and hear nothing but low student populations. This is a fact.

[inky]

"I see and hear nothing but low student populations. This is a fact."

A fact? A fact is a thing that is indisputably the case, something with solid evidence to support it. Please provide a comprehensive list of schools in HCMC and Hanoi with their past and current enrollment figures. Or did you mean that it is a fact that you heard this from someone, which means it's gossip or bar talk, not a fact.

My school is the same as Fat Rabbit's, and it is not ILA. And his probably isn't ILA either.

[just noel]

[blateson]

At the school I was last working at (not working at present), student numbers and classes were frighteningly decreased. It got to the point that half the school was dark every evening. Student chatter was eerily quiet in some parts of the building, which used to be loud and rambunctious (sp). The teacher room was also thinned out, especially of foreigners but admittedly even with the Vietnamese teachers. That was in a central district of HCMC. School staff never made any comments nor gave any explanations about why -- typically they didn't want to 'lose face.' Vietnamese school administrators don't want to discuss slumps but instead pretend that everything is still magnificent.