Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ghost]

Obviously a sensitive topic and not one that you can ask a Korean teacher outright, but it would be interesting to know how much Korean teachers make - those that teach in Public schools, and Universities and Teacher Training Colleges?

As a first timer in Korea, it was noticeable on arrival at Incheon Airport that Korea is developed and quite expensive, and although some aspects of the country resemble Taiwan (the lack of sidewalks, some of the stores, the appearance of the children in their school uniforms etc...), in other ways Taiwan has a blend of First World and Third World - you still see people living in very humble dwellings in Taiwan, which one has not seen in Korea.

The first day in Korea was a rude wake up call - after shopping for stuff for the new apartment - the money spent on the first day here came to 150.000 won - and that came from the 300.000 won dished out from the office on arrival at the contract Institution.

Korea, has a different buzz than Taiwan: In Taiwan, for example, all the streets are super busy from about 5.30am and there are plenty of places to eat between 6am-8am in the morning in Taiwan - small noodle restaurants etc.....which are open, but in Korea, when taking a walk in the small regional town, it was surprising to find that everything was still closed or locked down at 8am, and there was nowhere open to grab some breakfast aside from one Mini Mart type of store and a bakery. In Taiwan, everyone, including the locals, eat most of their meals out....but in Korea, eating out does not seem to be a habit, probably because more expensive, approaching First World prices.

So, back to the original question: How much do the Koreans make compared with us? Yes - we have the free accommodation (minus the heating bills) which they don't have, but perhaps their salaries are more than ours?

Thanks for any feedback you may have.

Ghost

[Newbie]

[yingwenlaoshi]

Outside of the Taipei and Kaoshiung, it's pretty much impossible to walk all the way down a sidewalk in Taiwan. Korea's much different. I laugh at how people talk about it here. Not the same. Even Taipei can be a task for walking at times.

The all-night places in Taiwan are breakfast shops. And they're great. I ate out pretty much all the time there. Dumplings and noodles in Korea are shhit in comparison. Plus they have lajiaojiang (hot chilli sauce) to dip your food into. I especially liked show bing with bacon and cheese. Plus there were small pakistani-owned restaurants where you could pick up a beef, lamb or chicken roll for 40 NT. Noodles, dumplings, etc. were 50 NT. Really, really cheap.

As far as everyone eating out, that's not entirely true. Don't know how long you lived there.

Dwellings can be more humble, but less people per capita live in apartments in Taiwan. A lot of people lived in houses where I was (Hualien). There not big houses and they're strung together like villas, but they are much better than what even the higher income bracket live in in Korea. Maybe older at times, but much more spacious. They actually have staircases. Many of the lower icomers live in garage type dwellings, but inside the home or apartments are much bigger. They're just locked up by sliding a garage door down on the first floors.

Be it that, the homes aren't great to look at from the outside. Many people live frugally, but drive really expensive cars and have huge TVs because appearance is a big thing there.

If you want to know what a Korean teacher makes, ask them. It's not rude here.

[Neil]

Not to sure on how much they make but working in the public schools is a very popular career choice for Koreans thesedays as KTs are heavily unionised and therefore it's a job for life.

[schwa]

You out-earn a new Korean public school teacher but we max out substantially lower than Korean long-termers.

[chris_J2]

The tax rate would be the decider. I pay about 2-3 % tax, but Koreans would pay substantially more in tax.

[yingwenlaoshi]

[oneofthesarahs]

I don't know where you're living, but it's certainly not hard to find Koreans living in "humble" dwellings. In my town, it's not at all unusual to find people living in what would be considered sub-standard housing: broken windows, roof tiles broken and falling off, etc. And while I haven't been to Taiwan and can't make that specific comparison, it seems to me that Koreans eat out on a much more regular basis than say, people in the States.

Edit: Oh yeah, and I think that eating out here is quite cheap. Just as cheap or cheaper than staying in and cooking, especially if you are cooking for one or don't particularly like eating ramyeon every day.

[yingwenlaoshi]

[passport220]

I had a Korean English teacher with 6 years of experience in the public school system tell me she made about 2.7 mill. per. month. That is out here in the countryside. There was no discussion if that was gross or net.

[poet13]

I think living cheap depends on your needs and tastes. I live somewhere in between Korean and Western, as I am sure most do. That means that I need my olive oil, peanut butter, the occasional bottle of wine, cheese now and then, and a few other things, but that I am also content to have rice and kimchi for breafast, and dinner is usually something korean style. I will define korean style as rice, kimchi, another side of something, lots of veggies and a little protein. If I didn't smoke and drink so damn much, I could easily live on 50K won a week.

I think also where you live makes a difference in your cost of living. I'm out in the country. Stuff here is cheap.

I have read in other posts also that it's often cheaper to eat out than in. I used to disagree with that. I don't now. When you eat out, you get a variety of foods that you can't match economically at home.

Oh, and welcome to Korea.

[babtangee]

I had a first year Korean teacher compare salaries with me my first year here. He was making just under 2.2 mil, which was the same as my salary at the time. However, I did have free housing worth at least 400,000 per month. He didn't like that.

[poet13]

Wow. Just realized how off topic my post was. Sorry...

[yingwenlaoshi]

Junior goverment workers only usually start at around 1.9 or 2 million/month.

Pretty low comared to Canada.

If the foreign English teachers here were actually teaching regular classes, they'd be making a lot more.

Korean teachers don't make that much to start up, but their salaries increase over the years. I don't think it's that much though when you compare it to places like Canada. I think Real Reality posted something about this before.

And I don't think you necessarily need an Education degree to teach here. Just a Bachelors in anything. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, teachers used to make a lot more on "gifts" from parents which kind of made the whole education thing here a mockery. Probably still goes on, but I think it was much worse before.

Teaching is a highly regarded profession (on the surface) in Korea, but it's more on the downslide now. In Taiwan, it's more highly regarded, but it's much on the surface there too (especially with foreigners anyway). It's all image and that image is being founded out. Just go teach in a public school in Taiwan and see how the students behave. That's the key. They're a bunch of animals compared to Korea. As far as being a foreign teacher goes.

[rhinocharge64]

Yep, a degree in education is not required. A bachelor in what ever subject, and then they study for a pointless test in their own area of expertise. To prepaqre for the test, and stand a chance of scoring high you need to study for a year. If you fall in the top per cent you then give a demonstration of your 'teaching skills' to 2/3 teachers, they then decide who they want. For those who are successful they enter the 'best education system in the world', and their' 'teaching skills' can be put into practice. Hence, why you have got a crap system, and it will continue to be unless they change it, but I doubht they ever will, such is their conceit!!!


Just my two pence