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Newcomers: why do you want to work in Korea for $9 / hour?
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wayfarer



Joined: 05 Jun 2007

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 5:35 pm    Post subject: Newcomers: why do you want to work in Korea for $9 / hour? Reply with quote

post is more relevant to North Americans, but:

average salary 2 mil + free housing = about 2.3 million won
2.3 at current exchange rate = 1500 USD
1,500 USD into about 160 hours at your school every month = $9.37 dollars per hour

There's pension and severance too but a great many of you will never see that money, even if you don't go mad and leave before finishing your twelve-month stretch.

My question is more sincere than it might seem- I'm just wondering, what in particular attracts you to Korea, specifically?
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sarbonn



Joined: 14 Oct 2008
Location: Michigan

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 5:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm thinking that $9.37 and hour has to sound a lot better than $0 an hour if they're having trouble finding a job. And your post assumes the won will NEVER get better. Before I came here, it was great. Now it sucks. That tells me that it fluctuates, which means that it's quite possible it might be good again. It's not like Korea is doing worse than the rest of the world. The rest of the world is doing as crappy as is Korea, so the fluctuation can happen or it may not happen. But that person taking the job at $9.37 an hour may find himself or herself making $13 an hour a few months from now. Or making $2 an hour. It's really hard to tell, and no two economists will agree one way or the other.
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jkelly80



Joined: 13 Jun 2007
Location: you boys like mexico?

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 5:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

By what calculation are you putting rent at 300k/mo?
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nosmallplans



Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Location: noksapyeong

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 5:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

this question is moot as anyone who is a 'newbie' would've arrived back in august/september when the exchange rate was still ~ 1150:1. the next wave of new teachers won't be arriving till winter break and presumably they would already know about the crappy rates.

/thread.
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RyanInKorea



Joined: 17 Jan 2008

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 5:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It ain't the money, it ain't the job, and it ain't the people. It's the lifestyle.

Ryan
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wayfarer



Joined: 05 Jun 2007

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 5:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sarbonn wrote:
I'm thinking that $9.37 and hour has to sound a lot better than $0 an hour if they're having trouble finding a job. And your post assumes the won will NEVER get better. Before I came here, it was great. Now it sucks. That tells me that it fluctuates, which means that it's quite possible it might be good again. It's not like Korea is doing worse than the rest of the world. The rest of the world is doing as crappy as is Korea, so the fluctuation can happen or it may not happen. But that person taking the job at $9.37 an hour may find himself or herself making $13 an hour a few months from now. Or making $2 an hour. It's really hard to tell, and no two economists will agree one way or the other.


This tells me that, barring the luckless unemployed making $0, you'd have to be mad to come here expecting to save, as no two economists will agree about the future (and that statement is not accurate anyway, as plenty more than one economist agrees that the won is going to go nowhere for at least a couple years.)
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Teelo



Joined: 09 Oct 2008
Location: Wellington, NZ

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 5:44 pm    Post subject: Re: Newcomers: why do you want to work in Korea for $9 / hou Reply with quote

wayfarer wrote:
I'm just wondering, what in particular attracts you to Korea, specifically?
Wanting what I can't have Laughing Laughing

(They denied my E-2 visa)
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Ramen



Joined: 15 Apr 2008

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 5:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Four season
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wayfarer



Joined: 05 Jun 2007

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 5:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jkelly80 wrote:
By what calculation are you putting rent at 300k/mo?


That's not all that important, my first place was 200k and my current one is 500k, it's crap compensation in any event.

Quote:
this question is moot as anyone who is a 'newbie' would've arrived back in august/september when the exchange rate was still ~ 1150:1. the next wave of new teachers won't be arriving till winter break and presumably they would already know about the crappy rates.


There are new ones coming all the time, and they're the ones I was trying to figure out.
Quote:

Four season

Laughing Laughing Laughing !!
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MUOhio82



Joined: 25 Apr 2008

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 5:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well I can't speak for the men, but I know why the women come

1. The absolutely beauty of the Korean men
2. The lush variety of shopping. The diverse sizes and the ability to find ANYTHING.
3. The great personal hygiene products, like tampons and Midol

Seriously though, who knows. Maybe lots of new teachers are blind and dead and they can't see and hear about the exchange rate. Or some recruiter told them Korea was a beautiful and harmonious experience with a culture so different from out own. Maybe they think they're going to get off the plane and be greeted by Koreans in Hanbok with steaming bowls of Kimchi....... I mean, that's what MY recruiter told me, so imagine my shock...
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sarbonn



Joined: 14 Oct 2008
Location: Michigan

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 6:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

wayfarer wrote:
sarbonn wrote:
I'm thinking that $9.37 and hour has to sound a lot better than $0 an hour if they're having trouble finding a job. And your post assumes the won will NEVER get better. Before I came here, it was great. Now it sucks. That tells me that it fluctuates, which means that it's quite possible it might be good again. It's not like Korea is doing worse than the rest of the world. The rest of the world is doing as crappy as is Korea, so the fluctuation can happen or it may not happen. But that person taking the job at $9.37 an hour may find himself or herself making $13 an hour a few months from now. Or making $2 an hour. It's really hard to tell, and no two economists will agree one way or the other.


This tells me that, barring the luckless unemployed making $0, you'd have to be mad to come here expecting to save, as no two economists will agree about the future (and that statement is not accurate anyway, as plenty more than one economist agrees that the won is going to go nowhere for at least a couple years.)


But the thing you're missing is that if someone is coming to Korea for the first time, they have NO IDEA that the exchange rate is really bad. All they've heard is people rave about how Korea is a great place to go to in order to save money and pay off debts. This won plummet happened really fast. I mean I came here less than two months ago, and things were still looking really good. But most people don't have a board like this to look to because they don't even know it exists. As much as we'd like to think otherwise, those of us who post here are a tiny fraction of the people who are here, mainly because people either don't know about these types of boards, or they just don't care.

And the "two economists" thing is an economics paradigm, not an actual "there are no two economists that agree". It means that economics is an interpretative discipline, in that there are many interpretations to the statistical data that gets churned out. It doesn't mean that economists are like snowflakes, although they can sometimes think like one.
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jkelly80



Joined: 13 Jun 2007
Location: you boys like mexico?

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

wayfarer wrote:
jkelly80 wrote:
By what calculation are you putting rent at 300k/mo?


That's not all that important, my first place was 200k and my current one is 500k, it's crap compensation in any event.


It's about 2-4 grand a year, depending. The exchange matters when you get home, not really while you're here, unless you're sending huge amounts of money back.
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bogey666



Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Location: Korea, the ass free zone

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

MUOhio82 wrote:
Well I can't speak for the men, but I know why the women come

1. The absolutely beauty of the Korean men
2. The lush variety of shopping. The diverse sizes and the ability to find ANYTHING.
3. The great personal hygiene products, like tampons and Midol

Seriously though, who knows. Maybe lots of new teachers are blind and dead and they can't see and hear about the exchange rate. Or some recruiter told them Korea was a beautiful and harmonious experience with a culture so different from out own. Maybe they think they're going to get off the plane and be greeted by Koreans in Hanbok with steaming bowls of Kimchi....... I mean, that's what MY recruiter told me, so imagine my shock...



errr...
ummm..

with all due respect.

(because I'm partial to full figured Amazons Smile

you believed what your RECRUITER told you?
I double and triple checked everything mine told me, because they are essentially salespeople and I trust those as far as I can throw them (in some cases, that might be pretty far LOL )

why didn't you use this forum (and others Web resources) to do your own research?
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nomad-ish



Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Location: On the bottom of the food chain

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 6:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

RyanInKorea wrote:
It ain't the money, it ain't the job, and it ain't the people. It's the lifestyle.

Ryan


got to agree with you there, i may hate my job, but i love the travel and lifestyle
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xingyiman



Joined: 12 Jan 2006

PostPosted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 6:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why do they want to come to Korea and work for $9.00 an hour?
Well, with the free housing and not needing a car it's a whole lot better than living stateside working for $8.00 an hour with all afformentioned expenses.
Oh and Seoul is WAY cooler than Kansas. Laughing
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