Korean Job Discussion Forums

[meangradin]

things to consider:

bonuses: the average worker (not working for a chaebol) collects 5-7 months worth of bonuses a year. those lucky enough to work for a chaebol see that total double. hyundai factory workers (no post secondary education) make almost 100 million a year!

perks: most workers, especially those that work at major companies receive many things such as free education for kids, housing allowance, etc...

i know for a fact that a mid level executive at sk makes in the 15-20 million a month range.

a complaint i hear from executives is that it takes a long time to raise your salary to a decent level in korea versus the "west," and that careers are much shorter in korea

PS, to the poster who claims to be in the top 1 percent, although i have no data to support me, i assume that even a monthly salary of 100 million would not qualify for the top 1%

[edwardcatflap]

[Clinton]

Just some other figures to consider....

It takes some good education and interviewing to get into Samsung, Hyundai, etc

In America, a good starting job will start you at 50k all the way to 70k. Investment bankers and top Engineering jobs obviously pay more (apple, google) but anyway...

This is at 22. That's comParable to the ajusshi at 40 already ...

[silkhighway]

[michpottier]

Okay everyone, i am teacher in Canada. I have worked in korea as well as elsewhere in the world. The starting wage for a teacher in nova scotia, my home province is 37,000 a year. After taxes and union dues, you might see 29,000$. After 20 years of consecutive teaching, it is possible to make 79,000$. However this is rare and usually involves taking on extra resonsibilities. These wages vary from province to province but on average all are in the same ball park. If you want to make big money you can teach in the north, but this is not ideal for obvious reasons (living in perpetual cold and darkness for 6 months). It should also be noted that most provinces now require 6 years of education to simply step into a classroom, even as a sub. In this time you could be a practicing lawyer, or starting a medical residency, not scraping by on 29,000$ a year. This would be fine though, if it was the same as the baby boomer generation, who were only required to get their one year certification after high school, so they could start moving up the pay scale early. Most of us would have had teachers of this generation, or had relatives or parents who fell into this category. Those days are gone.
I saved a lot more money in korea than i did in canada, where i could barely make ends meet, let alone get steady work. When you factor in all the bills, rent, car payments, etc korea is still quite good. Korea has low taxes, free or cheap housing, no vehicle required and as a canadian i get all my pension money back. Furthermore, it is stress free in korea in some regards. Obviously this depends on your school, but generally the curriculum is set up for you, classes are small, and if your job is horrible it is not too difficult to get another one. I guess the only thing that is not so great is vacation time, but even then if you work in a university etc, you get 4-10 weeks.
Suffice it to say, every job has its drawbacks, and teaching in Canada is not only difficult to get in to, it has a burnout rate of around five years. Therefore, if you're lucky enough to get a full time contract, you will leave the job after five years from the stress of horrible students, parents, and the educational bureaucracy.

[michpottier]

Okay everyone, i am teacher in Canada. I have worked in korea as well as elsewhere in the world. The starting wage for a teacher in nova scotia, my home province is 37,000 a year. After taxes and union dues, you might see 29,000$. After 20 years of consecutive teaching, it is possible to make 79,000$. However this is rare and usually involves taking on extra resonsibilities. These wages vary from province to province but on average all are in the same ball park. If you want to make big money you can teach in the north, but this is not ideal for obvious reasons (living in perpetual cold and darkness for 6 months). It should also be noted that most provinces now require 6 years of education to simply step into a classroom, even as a sub. In this time you could be a practicing lawyer, or starting a medical residency, not scraping by on 29,000$ a year. This would be fine though, if it was the same as the baby boomer generation, who were only required to get their one year certification after high school, so they could start moving up the pay scale early. Most of us would have had teachers of this generation, or had relatives or parents who fell into this category. Those days are gone.
I saved a lot more money in korea than i did in canada, where i could barely make ends meet, let alone get steady work. When you factor in all the bills, rent, car payments, etc korea is still quite good. Korea has low taxes, free or cheap housing, no vehicle required and as a canadian i get all my pension money back. Furthermore, it is stress free in korea in some regards. Obviously this depends on your school, but generally the curriculum is set up for you, classes are small, and if your job is horrible it is not too difficult to get another one. I guess the only thing that is not so great is vacation time, but even then if you work in a university etc, you get 4-10 weeks.
Suffice it to say, every job has its drawbacks, and teaching in Canada is not only difficult to get in to, it has a burnout rate of around five years. Therefore, if you're lucky enough to get a full time contract, you will leave the job after five years from the stress of horrible students, parents, and the educational bureaucracy.

[silkhighway]

[michpottier]

You cannot teach right out of high school anywhere in canada. The 1 year experience is after the five/six years of university education, in other words a TC1-3. The bulk of teachers have just a few years experience, and are paid this scale maxing out at 53 thousand give or take. The other certificates require more training, masters degrees, or are administrative in nature (principles etc.)
Nova scotia is the third lowest usually, but this changes often. However, most of the school boards are in the same ball park. It is not like a Toronto teacher gets paid 80 grand right out of university. Also the site you put up is the new teachers union negotiation from last year for full time contracts, which are becoming increasingly rare. However there was a modest increase, which is good but too late for some. furthermore, the teacher's union only recognizes experience from within nova scotia. Therfore if you have 10 years teaching somewhere else but none in nova scotia, you start at the bottom. ( other pronivces are better at this and count everything, even overseas)
Most teachers are on temp or sub contracts which pay much lower. I had a colleague who temped for 8 years before giving up the profession, and she taught french, and after taxes, union dues, and pension, she got 100$ a day. Furthermore the teachers union in nova scotia is notoriously unreliable and incompetent. We actually picketed our own union a few years back because they mismanaged our pension and we ended up having to pay more and get less, digging even more into the bottom line.
Lastly, to put things into perspective, bus drivers in Halifax, nova scotia, get paid 50,000 a year starting, with the average wage being 70,000. They only need high school. This is when teachers start to think they are in the wrong line of work.

[silkhighway]

[World Traveler]

[newb]

Level of happiness out weighs the salary. You cant buy happiness. It seems majority of koreans are born to be miserable.

[World Traveler]

[slothrop]

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[World Traveler]

Really? You were directly responding to this:

[slothrop]

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