Korean Job Discussion Forums

[peony]

the average yearly American salary is $39,795 per year, doesnt the average seem to have jumped a lot in the last 5 years? i think it was at 33k then

[TheUrbanMyth]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[billybrobby]

http://times.hankooki.com/cgi-bin/hkiprn.cgi?pa=/lpage/special/200311/kt2003110219005639750.htm&ur=times.hankooki.com&fo=print_kt.htm

the link says this:

The top 20 percent of households earned 5.81 million won per month in the first quarter of this year, up 3.1 percent from a year ago. But the bottom 20 percent of urban households earned just 1.06 million won per month, up 1.8 percent.

The average household income was 2.91 million won, up 4.3 percent. But the growth rate was about half that of the 8.1 percent increase recorded in the first quarter of 2002.

After adjusting for inflation, the average urban household income rose 0.2 percent to 2.65 million won per month in the first quarter of this year compared with a year ago. In the January-March period last year, the income growth rate was 5.4 percent.

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but there's a lot of tricky little stuff in there. good luck figuring it out.

i remember reading somewhere that an english teacher earns the about the same as a unionized bus driver. but i have no idea what figures they were using to come up with that one.

[billybrobby]

i haven't read the article carefully, but says some interesting stuff:

While an average annual salary of a five-year wage-earner stood at 20-30 million won, sons and daughters of some wealthy Kangnam families spend tens of millions won at bars and hotels every day.



that's pretty much how i see korea. a five year wage earner? i guess that would be about where i fit in. 20 to 30? yeah, sounds about right. and yet there is this certain class of super-rich koreans that piques my curiosity. it is one of my unfortunate prejudices that i generally regard koreans as poorer and less classy than americans. but, hey, they (a) really are poorer and (b) use fog machines at their weddings. so, the idea of mixing korean-ness with super wealthiness intrigues me. do the super rich koreans actually get married at nice churches instead of wedding halls? or do they just choose a wedding hall with a really nice fog machine?

[joe_doufu]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[joe_doufu]

[forgesteel]

The Korea Herald published some rough figures recently (within the past month or two, so you could probably visit their site and do a search) which I've corroborated with the Koreans I know:

College-educated people straight outta school get about 1.8- 2 million won a month. Engineers, managers, doctors and other high profile people make 3-4 million won after not too long. Most other people make *beep* (not The Korea Herald's words, mine).

Since we get free housing, I guess we are about average or a little higher than college educated Koreans (of the non-doctor, non-manager, non-engineer stripe), depending on how long they've been outta school and how long they've stayed with one company, etc.

I figure its pretty easy to see we're solidly middle class. If we get lucky with a bunch of private classes, we're still only gonna be solidly upper middle class at best, of course. The wealthy here (as everywhere) have more money than God, so it's no use comparing oneself to them.

Interesting article today (21 September 2005) in KH regarding inequality of pay between men and women in Korea:
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/09/21/200509210020.asp

Cheers,

[Veronica]

I am just happy to see, especially as I am neither Candian, American or Korean, that I am earning well above all of those countires average yearly salaries. Infact, almost double Canada's GDP. And I am a mere teacher of English....

[Wangja]

Interesting thread this.

I have long pondered why many from the "land of the free" and "free enterprise" and "where-everyone-wants-to-be-be" would find a salary of 24,000 USD so attractive.

My Korean brother-in-law recently joined that exodus and emigrated to USA: I tried hard to dissuade him, but his wife was adamant. He is an electrical engineer and his last Korean pay-slip showed annual earnings of >70,000 USD.

I still do not understand why he went and he still does not understand why he has not found a better job in such a wonderful land.

[forgesteel]

America is great- when there's a Democrat in office. Otherwise, all the money goes to the bankers, the military, etc.

[forgesteel]

> find a salary of 24,000 USD so attractive.

First of all, the job is usually for people just outta college. Second, the standard of living here is such that it is actually possible to SAVE MONEY on a wage that you mention. Even if you make $50K or more, it is sometimes nigh impossible to save anything in America. I live in Southern California, so it is a special case. One practically needs a car in S. CA. Therefore, one needs car insurance. The cost of living in Southern CA is ridiculously high. The rent plus car insurance plus gas costs almost your whole pay check if you make anything less than $25K. Then there's food and cell phones etc. etc.

[forgesteel]

> I still do not understand why he went

Come on now, it's not that hard to figure out. Here in Korea, the Family Corporation runs everything. So if you don't work for Samsung or somesuch, you ain't really making it, now are you?

Cheers,

[ubum]

Veronica