Korean Job Discussion Forums

adobolden · Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Location: australia

please forgive me if this topic has been covered like infinty times already...

I thought i had researched the pros and cons of teaching in Taiwan in comparison to south korea... I chose south korea, have been teaching here for 11months, im liking it and managing to save lots of money, I will most likely be coming back after a short vacation...

i just thought id quickly check the teaching situation in Taiwan and when looking at the Globalcrossroads web site they claimed that the salary for south korea is around $1850 - $2500... and Taiwan's salary ranges from $1950 - $4000...

did this just happen, or what? i was under the impression that an english teachers salary in S.K was always higher than that of a teacher's in Taiwan...

can someone please shed some light on the situation for me??? does anyone know of a friend teaching in taiwan at the moment??

if this is true then i will most likely be giving taiwan a shot next year... who's with me???

cheers...

pest2 · Joined: 01 Jun 2005 Location: Vancouver, Canada

xingyiman · Joined: 12 Jan 2006

The wages in Taiwan are ebbing up there although they're not quite as high as Korea. It's not exactly true about the apartment situation in Taiwan. There are people who get a freebie with room and board but they negotiate it into their contracts before they sign. There is a teacher shortage all over Asia and it's clearly a shoppers dream. Most people however don't have the guts to demand all that up front but I know from experience that those who do usually wind up getting it. We've been trained in the West not to do that for fear of looking too greedy but this ain't Kansas anymore. They are hurting and there's not a line of qualified people to take your place although there are usually hordes of characters sans degrees trying. I am currently in Thailand making about half of what I was in Korea, although I will add that the quality of life makes up for any of the monetary shortcomings. Someday I might come back to Korea to stock back some cash if I need it but when I do it will be on my terms. Living in Korea is tough no doubt.

demaratus · Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 8:52 am Post subject:

$4000 a month in Taiwan would require rediculous hours or a tonne of privates which are not easy to aquire reliably. Maybe in a tenured university gig. $1950 would be considered a good salary in Taiwan right now, working 30-35 hours a week in a buxiban.

Corky · Joined: 06 Jan 2004

edited for a labotamy

JZer · Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Location: South Korea

If you are just working one job Korea is better. If you want to work privates then Taiwan might be better since the government doesn't seem to care. Working privates in South Korea might get you deported.

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

I tried some slary in Taiwan. Horrible taste.

aaabank · Joined: 27 Feb 2007

I worked for a year in Taiwan for one of the big academies and had a great experience with them. My salary there was ~1400 USD with no prior teaching experience, but from talking with other teachers, the average, in my view, is ~1200-2000 USD for ~20 hours teaching per week in the academies.
Here, with a little experience and a TEFL certificate, I am making ~2200 USD per month and my apt paid for.
So, my point seems to be that I believe that S.K. generally has higher salary potential and typically pays for housing. Taiwan does offer a different {sometimes better} culture and also has a generally lower cost of living to compensate for the lower salaries.

Rock · Joined: 25 Feb 2005

I'm here right now and pretty much have seen the brunt of the income you'd make. On average a teacher like us, those working at an institute, will get NT 60,000, which amounts to roughly $1,800.00. But there are a lot of chintzes out there who'll pay by the hour and even less.

This is not to mention you get 20% tax taken out for the first six mos, which means your net salary is NT48,000. Of course you get this back, but it still hurts.

Five years ago I was making 2.2 million won in Korea. That was over $2000 US. Plus, I got a free apartment.

Now, however, I work for a highschool and there are some schools that can cheat the government here meaning they'll declare you working less hours so that you don't get any tax taken out. That means, at the moment, I might be clearing around $2,100.00.

But no mistake, the money isn't here like it is in Korea.