Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Tigerstyleone]

I've seen many posts where people try to calculate their hourly wage and are wrong. They just assume that every month has 4 weeks and fabricate some formula based on that and its wrong.


Take your annual salary and divide that by 2080.
2080 is the number of working hours in a year if you work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

That's the only way.

If you have a contract for 2 million a month that is 24 million a year divided by the working hours in a year 2080 then you are earning 11,530 per hour..

I've never actually taught any one hour classes, so I don't even think in terms of hours. I think in terms of pay per class.

But I wanted to make this point. thanks.

[Hokie21]

You're welcome

[thegadfly]

Even easier would be to divide by 2000, since pretty much every job will have the ten "red" days, which, at 8 hours each, are 80 hours....

2.2 million + severance = 28.6 million a year/2000 = 14,300 an hour. See? A raise already!

Of course, it is pretty common for "full time" work in Korea to take less than 40 hours of face time...if you have a cushy hakwon job where you only need to be there 30 hours a week, you earn:

28.6 million/1500 hours = 19,067 an hour.

OH! The hakwons that only require 120 hours a month are even better!

28.6 million/1440 hours = 19,861 an hour!

I've seen ads for schools that only require 100 hours a month, too!

28.6 million/1200 hours = 23,833 an hour!

Math is fun!

[Tigerstyleone]

I know you're just joking, but you can't calculate your hourly wage based per month. You have to use 2080 hours per year especially if you're comparing your hourly wage teaching against other industries.

[thegadfly]

Actually, NO you do NOT have you use 2080 -- as I pointed out, it is actually only 2000, or possibly 1960, if you get all 15 red calendar days off. If you use 3 sick days, then you calculate at 1936.

Not every job requires you to be sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. The 120 hour a month hakwons have that contract because, lo and behold, they work 120 hours a month -- I had one o' them jobs, and when I worked 128 hours in a month, I got paid 8 hours of overtime.

I would agree that folks need to sit down and do the math for themselves -- however, my own hourly rate is calculated rather closer to 1500 hours a year than 2000, and that is INCLUDING my prep time (which is, honestly, a fair chunk of time).

[JMO]

In terms of teaching hours I get paid 78000 for each teaching hour based on 12 hour weeks for 32 weeks and 0 hour weeks for 20 and 2500000 more or less a month after tax and pension. I'm probably doing it wrong.

I'm fudging the numbers both ways as its really more like 9 teaching hours but on the other hand there is test marking/class prep and dealing with students queries and complaints. I probably spend less than 3 hours a week doing those things though. Obviously this doesn't really represent my wage though as if my uni decided to up our hours to the 16 in the contract I would still get paid the same.

edit: my hourly wage according to OP formula (2080 hours) is just under 15 bucks. Although 15 bucks an hour at 8 hours a day for the 4 months of vacation I have is decent.

[Tigerstyleone]

You're not an hourly employee. You're a salaried employee.

Take an accounting class.

[JMO]

[ontheway]

If you are working 30 hours per week, then you should divide your pay by 1560 hours per year.

You should add the value of your housing, employer's share of pension (if you're from a country that can get a refund) and year end severance to your annual pay. If you get free meals you should include them too. Do not include medical insurance as that's a standard benefit at home and exclude airfare since it only gets you here and back.

24,000,000 annual pay
2,000,000 severance
1,080,000 employer's share of pension
4,800,000 housing
1,300,000 free meals

33,180,000 per year / 1560 hours = 21,270 per hour

Of course, you should start no lower than 2.2 million at a hogwan, so you should be at least 10% higher.

Value of hourly pay for a hogwan beginner: about 23,000 per hour.

[thegadfly]

[West Coast Tatterdemalion]

Haha...yeah, 'ol Gadfly gave that tiger guy a mathematic karate chop to the throat. As far as the breakdown of pay, I would think the housing(and the fact that we don't have to pay rent) would also push the wage up.

[lifeinkorea]

What use would it be to arrive at an hourly rate?

People use 4 weeks because they are signing MONTHLY contracts, not hourly ones. Hourly rates come up when overtime issues are of concern.

4.3 might be more accurate, but if you make an argument for the extra .3, then the employer can seize the day and use that against you making you work more and not pay you overtime.

Another reason why 4 weeks is good to use is for scheduling. Would you prefer the school tack on extra working days just to make the work schedule fit?

You are spending too much time looking at the minutia and not enough at other ways you could earn more money.

I am curious how university teachers view the stanard monthly hours compared to their pay and what they do to earn more.

[oldtrafford]

I can't believe people are working for 2.2 million, people were earning that over 5 years ago. The cost of living has increased so much over those years. You're getting mugged, stop the muggings, you fools.

[Hotpants]

lol.

I couldn't resist taking this literally.

My hourly rate works out at between 8,000 - 7,500 BEFORE tax.

With an MA and over 10 years in ELT, I'm clearly not doing too well here ...

[lorenchristopher]

36,000,000 annual pay
2,000,000 severance
2,900,000 pension
8,400,000 housing

49,300,000 per year / 1,200 hours per year = 41,083 per hour

This is my fourth year at the same hagwon so I've gotten raises each yeah, and this does not include the bonuses each year I've renewed.

Anyway, yeah I have a one class that really gets on my nerves. So I mentally picture each student giving me 5,000 won and me putting it in my wallet before I walk in that classroom. This greatly improves my attitude!!