Korean Job Discussion Forums

[earthbound14]

When I first came here in 2002, the GDP per person was any where from 11,000 US per person to 14,000 US per person (it seems various agencies had various figures)

http://iaea.org/inisnkm/nkm/aws/eedrb/data/KR-gdpc.html

Now it seems to be around 25,000 US per person
[/url]https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ks.html[url]

Depending on what stats you have it's either double what it was or almost double. So roughly a 100% increase in GDP.

I haven't noticed a similar increase in pay for teachers in Korea.

I started at 2 mil per month, with housing, bonus and flights (so roughly 2.6 mil a month....depending on many things, so could be a lot more)

Now a base salary seems to be about 2.4 mil with housing, bonus and flights (with higher rent these days that means more money, although let's be honest most schools own their property so they aren't subject to the high cost of housing, the increased cost of flights, and of course the larger bonus, that could put the actual sum easily above 3 mil)

So based on really simple math, the base salary of English teachers in Korea has not even come close to matching the doubling of the GDP per person (because we would all be making somewhere near 4 mil if that were the case). Roughly a 20% - 25% increase in wages.

100% increase in GDP per person versus a 20% increase in wages for English teachers.

So the big question is, are we justified in asking for more?

Keep in mind that the current currency fluctuation is too erratic to include.

Why have wages increased so slowly while the GDP has increased so much?
Should we be paid more in relation to the GDP, or is the lowering of wages justified?
Is this still a good wage compared to your home country?
What would be a good wage?
Does this represent a dumbing down of ESL in Korea while the masses continue to complain about the low quality of educators (a finger that often seems to be pointed at us rather than the system)?

[jdog2050]