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asmith
Joined: 18 Jun 2009
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 Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 12:21 am Post subject: Are you an economic refugee? |
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Has your home country turned you into a refugee?
Do you make more in Korea than you did back home? Is your life style better here.
I make no bones about it. I'm an economic refugee. Not proud. Just saying. |
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Rusty Shackleford
Joined: 08 May 2008
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 12:40 am Post subject: |
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| I would make more back home in a lower skilled job, except the effective tax rate in my home country is something like 62%. |
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asmith
Joined: 18 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 12:47 am Post subject: |
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| Rusty Shackleford wrote: |
| I would make more back home in a lower skilled job, except the effective tax rate in my home country is something like 62%. |
Are jobs still available is your home country. People keep talking about a recession. Back home, it feels more like a depression.
I'm afraid to read the newspaper everyday. |
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Rusty Shackleford
Joined: 08 May 2008
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 12:56 am Post subject: |
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| asmith wrote: |
| Rusty Shackleford wrote: |
| I would make more back home in a lower skilled job, except the effective tax rate in my home country is something like 62%. |
Are jobs still available is your home country. People keep talking about a recession. Back home, it feels more like a depression.
I'm afraid to read the newspaper everyday. |
I'm from New Zealand. There are jobs available for middle to high skilled folk with experience. It's a really bad time to be graduating but it's not the end of the world. It sucks if you are poor, but doesn't it always suck to be poor? I think unemployment has gone from 3.5% to somewhere in the high fives. |
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roadballmint
Joined: 09 Jan 2009
Location: Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 7:22 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Has your home country turned you into a refugee? |
'Refugee' sounds a little strong. But, I can't come up with a better word, so yes, I suppose I am sort of an economic refugee.
At this point I'm not sure I could go back even if I wanted to.
*Having said that, I'm not exactly feeling sorry for myself. I wanted to go live outside my home country to begin with. This is how things ended up- not 100% how I envisioned it, but when does it ever end up that way? I'm happy with what I have in Korea. |
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Emeliu
Joined: 31 Mar 2009
Location: Korea, i'm OMW
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 7:44 am Post subject: |
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| In California, a teacher would make the equivalent of 3.8 million won a month, but no free apartment. So I think its a bit better than teaching in Korea in terms of wage. |
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Ninebreaker
Joined: 16 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 9:00 am Post subject: |
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| Rusty Shackleford wrote: |
I'm from New Zealand. I think unemployment has gone from 3.5% to somewhere in the high fives. |
I'm from there too, it's closer to 10% now duder. |
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alphakennyone
Joined: 01 Aug 2005
Location: city heights
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 9:02 am Post subject: |
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^
That sounds like a starting wage. The ones I know make closer to 50k a year just after a few years of teaching.
That's the thing..you can work in public schools in Korea for years and barely move up the pay-scale. |
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Emeliu
Joined: 31 Mar 2009
Location: Korea, i'm OMW
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 9:04 am Post subject: |
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| alphakennyone wrote: |
^
That sounds like a starting wage. The ones I know make closer to 50k a year just after a few years of teaching.
That's the thing..you can work in public schools in Korea for years and barely move up the pay-scale. |
Yeah, thats true. And the benefits for teachers in California are tremendous. Its just part of the lifestyle we chose, I guess. |
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AgentM
Joined: 07 Jun 2009
Location: British Columbia, Canada
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 9:05 am Post subject: |
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| I will be an economic refugee, partially. Although I'm also going over there because I want to. I'm a Poli-sci Major/Public Admin Minor, and just prior to the recession provincial and federal governments were practically begging us to come and work for them. Since the recession hit and gov't deficits are starting to be felt, *poof* nice gov't jobs gone! I'm sure they'll come back eventually because the governments still need to do succession planning to replace all the baby boomers that are retiring en masse. However, it's gonna be a while! |
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AgentM
Joined: 07 Jun 2009
Location: British Columbia, Canada
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 10:01 am Post subject: |
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| Emeliu wrote: |
| Yeah, thats true. And the benefits for teachers in California are tremendous. Its just part of the lifestyle we chose, I guess. |
Yeah, but the costs of living in California are also tremendous. Something to keep in mind. |
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alphakennyone
Joined: 01 Aug 2005
Location: city heights
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 10:13 am Post subject: |
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| Rent is higher than Seoul depending on where you live, but that's a one-bedroom, not a one-room apartment. Food, entertainment, restaurants, etc are cheaper in California. |
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Emeliu
Joined: 31 Mar 2009
Location: Korea, i'm OMW
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 10:45 am Post subject: |
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| alphakennyone wrote: |
| Rent is higher than Seoul depending on where you live, but that's a one-bedroom, not a one-room apartment. Food, entertainment, restaurants, etc are cheaper in California. |
Food is expensive where I live, but rent is cheap. You get a nice 3 bedroom apartment for $1200, rent it out with a few other people, you're looking at $400/month rental payments and some company. |
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E_athlete
Joined: 09 Jun 2009
Location: Korea sparkling
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:49 pm Post subject: |
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| definitely. |
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OnTheOtherSide
Joined: 29 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 3:14 pm Post subject: |
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In the USA things are pretty bad. There are still low-paying jobs to be had here. But landing a GOOD job that will actually allow you to save money is VERY competetive right now.
I got offered a job in Seattle recently, but I had to turn it down because the pay would not even cover my bare minimum survival expenses.
It's always the same story, the jobs pay so low that you would have to live like a gutter punk just to makes ends meet.
Being an economic refugee does not make you a loser though. There is no shame in it, especially with the current situation. Unless you are one of those people who has been so indoctrinated into capitalist society, that you think the measure of success is directly related to the amount of money you earn. Which is a very primitive way of seeing the world.
For those of you who have been away for a while. The answer is, yes, things really are that messed up.
The poor and working-class, and even middle-class are all bending over and taking it extra deep right now. And when we turn around to see who is behind us pounding away, we see a bunch of dudes dressed like good ol' Uncle Sam, waiting for a piece of the action. |
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