|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Real Reality
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul
|
 Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 1:26 am Post subject: Average monthly income 2.71 million won |
 |
|
Self-Employed Businessmen Suffer From Falling Income
The ministry said that the monthly real income of self-employed people averaged 2.48 million won ($2,480) last year, down 18.4 percent or 560,000 won from 3.04 million won in 2000.
Salaried workers earned more than self-employed businesspeople, their average monthly income in major cities coming to 2.71 million won in 2004, up 13.7 percent from 2.38 million won four years ago.
By Kim Jae-kyoung, Korea Times (March 11, 2005)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/biz/200503/kt2005031119043311880.htm
What is the average monthly salary for foreign English teachers? What has been the pay increase over four years? Have salaries increased 13.7 percent over four years? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
weatherman
Joined: 14 Jan 2003
Location: Korea
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 4:10 am Post subject: Re: Average monthly income 2.71 million won |
|
|
| Real Reality wrote: |
What is the average monthly salary for foreign English teachers? What has been the pay increase over four years? Have salaries increased 13.7 percent over four years? |
I know people making 2.8 and I know people making 1.8 As for how much the salaries have increased in the last four years, 0% |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 4:55 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Ummmm...before anyone gets their panties in a bind, remember to add in the value of a free apartment to your monthly income figures. And for some people, the value of a free round trip ticket home. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 5:38 am Post subject: |
|
|
| $2500 a month... not so bad. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 5:41 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Ummmm...before anyone gets their panties in a bind, remember to add in the value of a free apartment to your monthly income figures. And for some people, the value of a free round trip ticket home. |
RR posts this every couple months. I'm never sure why. He seems to feel under paid, although he's a university instructor and gets paid a lot more than your 2 mil a month hagwon teacher.
To his post, I always have to point out:
We get 2 million won a month + a free apartment (estimate that's worth 500K a month). Also average your 2 million end of contract bonus over 12 months, so that bring you up to about 2.66mil a month for a 20 hour a week part time job, and consider too we have fewer deductions from our pay check and some seem to be able to get their pension contributions back. So, we make, easily, the average wage in Korea. Just about what teachers make in any Western nation. And, again, I stress that's for a part time job.
Add privates and work your traditional North American 40 hour week and you're looking at 4,760,000 won a month you can gross. That's 57,120,000 won a year. Assuming CAN$1 = 880 won, that's $64,910 a year. But wait, there's more. Assume you're paying 5% tax in Korea. So your take home is $61,000 a year. To net $61,000 a year in Canada you would need to gross about $86,000 a year.
So, take heart, ESL teachers. With gumption and a willingness to work an 8 hour day (and not your 10 hour Korean days), you'd be earning the equivalent of a person in Canada with a salary of $86,000 a year. Engineers and Chartered Accountants make that mid-career. And you can make it here with a BA in Sociology at the age of 22.
Does RR have a problem with this? I can't see how. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
paperbag princess
Joined: 07 Mar 2004
Location: veggie hell
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 6:29 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| i'm not sure about your school mindmetoo, but when i had housing through a hagwon it wasn't worth 500,000 a month. for a better estimate see what your contract says about housing allowance, it's prolly close to 300,000. i don't know of anyone who has a nice place through their school. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Daechidong Waygookin
Joined: 22 Nov 2004
Location: No Longer on Dave's. Ive quit.
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 7:26 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Factor in the much lower cost of living as well there mindmetoo. Food, entertainment, thatsnportation, electricity, phone, internet, hydro bills. Its all cheaper in Korea. On 2 million a won and after taxes you are making the equivalent of about 70 thousand dollars in Canada. Not only that, you are then saving more than someone making 70 grand saves. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Daechidong Waygookin
Joined: 22 Nov 2004
Location: No Longer on Dave's. Ive quit.
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 7:28 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| paperbag princess wrote: |
| i'm not sure about your school mindmetoo, but when i had housing through a hagwon it wasn't worth 500,000 a month. for a better estimate see what your contract says about housing allowance, it's prolly close to 300,000. i don't know of anyone who has a nice place through their school. |
My place is worth about 1 million a month on top of about 30million in key money. Thats not counting the administration fee which runs me between 100 and 150 thousand a month. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 9:30 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Ummmm...before anyone gets their panties in a bind, remember to add in the value of a free apartment to your monthly income figures. And for some people, the value of a free round trip ticket home. |
Humbug! How many salary workers have masters degrees? Face it, qualified foreign teachers are grossly underpaid. If money was the only reason why I stay in Korea, I would have left a long time ago. Qualified English teachers that want to come to Korea are getting rare nowadays, irony of all ironies, in part because of this whole ant-foreign teacher fiasco (kudos to the Korean government for the swift matter, deliberate or not, in which they redirected public attention away to the issue of Dokdo island). If I was prone to theorize about conspiraies, I'd say this anti-foreign teacher nonsense was manufactured by the conglomerates who are eager to swoop in on the English education industry. They own the media, after all. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 9:35 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Daechidong Waygookin wrote: |
| Factor in the much lower cost of living as well there mindmetoo. Food, entertainment, thatsnportation, electricity, phone, internet, hydro bills. Its all cheaper in Korea. On 2 million a won and after taxes you are making the equivalent of about 70 thousand dollars in Canada. Not only that, you are then saving more than someone making 70 grand saves. |
Well, stuff is cheaper in Korea now because of the exchange rate. Just wait until it goes back to the pre-98' levels. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 9:43 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| paperbag princess wrote: |
| i'm not sure about your school mindmetoo, but when i had housing through a hagwon it wasn't worth 500,000 a month. for a better estimate see what your contract says about housing allowance, it's prolly close to 300,000. i don't know of anyone who has a nice place through their school. |
My place is wonderful. One bedroom loft. This place would rent for $1000 a month in Toronto. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Koreabound2004
Joined: 19 Nov 2003
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 10:05 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| mindmetoo wrote: |
| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Ummmm...before anyone gets their panties in a bind, remember to add in the value of a free apartment to your monthly income figures. And for some people, the value of a free round trip ticket home. |
RR posts this every couple months. I'm never sure why. He seems to feel under paid, although he's a university instructor and gets paid a lot more than your 2 mil a month hagwon teacher.
To his post, I always have to point out:
We get 2 million won a month + a free apartment (estimate that's worth 500K a month). Also average your 2 million end of contract bonus over 12 months, so that bring you up to about 2.66mil a month for a 20 hour a week part time job, and consider too we have fewer deductions from our pay check and some seem to be able to get their pension contributions back. So, we make, easily, the average wage in Korea. Just about what teachers make in any Western nation. And, again, I stress that's for a part time job.
Add privates and work your traditional North American 40 hour week and you're looking at 4,760,000 won a month you can gross. That's 57,120,000 won a year. Assuming CAN$1 = 880 won, that's $64,910 a year. But wait, there's more. Assume you're paying 5% tax in Korea. So your take home is $61,000 a year. To net $61,000 a year in Canada you would need to gross about $86,000 a year.
So, take heart, ESL teachers. With gumption and a willingness to work an 8 hour day (and not your 10 hour Korean days), you'd be earning the equivalent of a person in Canada with a salary of $86,000 a year. Engineers and Chartered Accountants make that mid-career. And you can make it here with a BA in Sociology at the age of 22.
Does RR have a problem with this? I can't see how. |
Well this all looks fine and dandy, and I can add that I do save a pile living here...there are definite downsides....such as uncomfortable living conditions...xenophobia....and being away from home.... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 4:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| If I was prone to theorize about conspiraies, I'd say this anti-foreign teacher nonsense was manufactured by the conglomerates who are eager to swoop in on the English education industry. They own the media, after all. |
Do you really think you are important enough for them to take notice?
| Quote: |
| downsides....such as uncomfortable living conditions...xenophobia....and being away from home |
While few of us live in luxury, and do have housing problems from time to time, most think their place is acceptable. After all, a good number just moved out of student housing...dingy basements etc.
Are you saying you should be paid compensation for homesickness? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 5:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Koreabound2004 wrote: |
| xenophobia |
Yeah, we all now have an appreciation for what it's like to be the first black family to move into a white suburb in search of better economic conditions.
When it comes down to it, the job is not structured for lifers. Economics change if you suddenly try to make a go of it here and have children and have to pay for things Koreans have to pay for like education costs.
Wages at chaebols are high because the corporation takes the place of the social net we take for granted back at home, and pay for with 30% income tax rates. Koreans maybe pay 5% in tax at the pay check level but then they have to pay for a wide range of things, including public school tuition, health insurance, and supporting their retired parents. In return for these lucrative benefits and pay scales, an employee hands over his life and the majority of his day.
The hagwon system isn't designed around keeping and retaining cogs for life and paying them to stay put for life. They are based around people who want to work a year or two, bank money, and go some place quiet to die in the manner of their choosing. Trying to compare hagwons to chaebols is hammering the square peg into a round hole. And it will turn you into wild eyed raving nutbar like RR who methodically posts links to justify his nebulous beef against Korea, although it provides him a most excellent life and he rarely does acknowledge that any nation that could actually get its head out of its ass probably wouldn't give him a job beyond fry cook. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Koreabound2004
Joined: 19 Nov 2003
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 5:28 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I'm not saying I should be given any extra compensation here....I am paid well enough...and I save lots, as I said before.
However, when I think about all that I am sacrificing to be here...somedays it just doesn't seem worth it.
I am subject to many negative things living here, and being away from family and friends, and good food for an extended period of time....can really get to a person. These are just a few things here. I could go on forever...
I have days(probably like everyone else) where I think this is the best deal ever....easy money...and whatnot and I think I could stay another year, but then there are days when life here really gets you down in the dumps, and I think why the hell am I here?
And you have to question if it's worth it all...
That's what I was getting at.  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
