Korean Job Discussion Forums

[balzor]

Can you provide some thoughts? I know Korea's ratio. I would love some opinions as I'm trying to narrow down where I might want to go. saving about 800-1000$ a month would be nice.


Is China better than Thailand? I am really looking at Taiwan also. Japan would be nice, but can I save if I live outside the cities?

[Kimjongil76]

I will say it depends on yoru ifestyle. In Korea you don't pay rent, low taxes and you get a pension.

In Taiwan you can make the same money as Korea, but you pay higher taxes, yoru own rent, and no pension. If you drink like a fish then you won't save much. Here though, you can do privates outside of yoru work. Oh and you need a scooter, gas and such to get around.

China, you can make money their but don't expect to save much when you leave as there currency is low valued.

Japan, you go broke.

Vietnam, you can do well here if you go in with 3000-5000 to start up. You can work at a school, do privates and teh costto live there is low.

[northway]

The job market is a lot tighter in Taiwan.

With how cheap Vietnam is I don't see why you could possibly need more than $3,000 to get started.

[Kimjongil76]

Taiwan does have a tight market.


I did say 3000-5000.

You will need a form of transportation, and it is always nice to have enough money to fly back home. Plus live one to two months before getting paid. As most the good schools in Vietnam don't hire online and you get while you are there. So it could be two to four weeks before you start.

[Caffeinated]

If you can avoid paying key money for an apartment in Japan you would get rid of a major money pit.

Would your employer pay taxes/health insurance/pension? IIRC for your first year in Japan you don't pay local taxes. If you have to pay health insurance by yourself that would be over 20,000 yen/month.

Are your transportation costs covered? Most teaching jobs have an allowance for this.

Let's say you make 250,000 yen a month. To save 100,000 yen a month (about $900 let's say) you only have 150,000 available for rent, food, health insurance etc. It's doable, even more so if you can avoid the temptation of partying in the cities every weekend.

[dongjak]

I think in China you have the ability to make a lot of money especially if you are in a larger city (Shenzhen/Guangzhou) in Guangdong Province. If you work there for a year and build your social capital and don't mind working part-time, you could ultimately be earing a large sum of money, working okay hours and enjoying a low cost of living.

[Konglishman]

[balzor]

appreciate all the good responses, decisions, decisions

[passport220]

Pay in China is still poor, check back in 3 or 4 years. Same for Thailand but the cost of living keeps going up and you have to work more hours.

Outside of the Middle East, if you want to save money, Korea is still the best. When looking at Korea you have to remember to add airfare reimbursement, pension, paid housing, possible settlement allowance, income tax waver, rural allowances, etc.

[valkerie]

I saved around 80.000 YEN a month from a salary of 230.000 when I first lived in Tokyo. (I had to pay my rent and everything too.) it wasn't easy but you can pick up some private work for extras.

Vietnam is ULTRA cheap if you can get the local(ish) prices. Still cheap if you are not ripped off too much.

[dongjak]

[Konglishman]

[interestedinhanguk]

From all accounts, China is better than Thailand. People don't go to Thailand for the money, as it seems a lot of people don't do much better than breaking even.