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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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 Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2013 10:15 pm Post subject: More Than Half of Workers Earn Under W2 Million |
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http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/06/05/2012060500753.html
"More Than Half of Workers Earn Under W2 MillionMore than half of Korea's salaried workers earn less than W2 million a month, the Chosun Ilbo's analysis of regional wage statistics posted by Statistics Korea shows (US$1=W1,183). Some 54.3 percent earned under W2 million a month as of the fourth quarter of 2011.
Some 2.41 million or 13.9 percent of all 17.31 million wage earners nationwide made less than W1 million, and 40.4 percent between W1 million and W2 million.
Given the minimum cost of living for a family of four at W1.49 million, sole breadwinners earning less than W2 million a month barely eke out a living after paying tax and insurance. Their spouses have no choice but to work.
A whopping 87.7 percent of 5.24 million temporary and other non-regular workers earned less than W2 million each month. Among regular employees, only 42.2 percent earned less than 2 million.
This brings home once again how urgent it is to address the issue of non-regular employment amid the growing income gap. The latest finding shows that college graduates are being squeezed into lower-quality jobs, with 27 percent of graduates earning less than W2 million a month.
The analysis shows that government statistics no longer remotely reflect the real situation. Official figures purport to show that the number of new workers is increasing by about 500,000 a month on-year.
"It looks as though the number of new jobs increased significantly, but they were mostly low-paying temporary jobs to be taken by those who were forced to work because the main breadwinners do not earn enough money," said Lee Joon-hyup of the Hyundai Research Institute."
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/01/31/2012013101298.html
Well, guess no one can look down on our two million won monthly derriers. Hate it when some folks keep harping on about poor English teachers. |
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Paddycakes
Joined: 05 May 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2013 11:50 pm Post subject: |
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Ohhhh, now I feel so superior to the 18 year old cashier at Lotteria now... hahahha
She must be so resentful hahahaha NOT! |
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wishfullthinkng
Joined: 05 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2013 11:55 pm Post subject: |
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| the world at large is much poorer than most entitled westerners realize or will ever choose to realize. it's sad when people spout off about how much they make or complain about not making enough when the average person has it way worse than they do. |
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creeper1
Joined: 30 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 12:11 am Post subject: laugh out loud |
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Just goes to show how well of TEFLers are in Korea.
2.4 million for a TEFLer would be considered low. When you factor in all benefits such as housing etc I am not sure how much it is but way above those Koreans
There are posters on here making excess of 6 million a month.
For cash, plenty of cash, and to laugh all the way to the bank choose Korea.
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 12:51 am Post subject: Re: laugh out loud |
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| creeper1 wrote: |
There are posters on here making excess of 6 million a month.
For cash, plenty of cash, and to laugh all the way to the bank choose Korea.
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OK, first of all the only (and by only I mean 99+%) people making 6 mil a month are lifers with Korean wives (and hence the f visa). Also there is the dude who graduated from a top ranked university and published several books. How many people are like that though? The glass ceiling for almost everyone is very low.
Next, Korea has a widespread problem with Korean citizens underreporting income to avoid paying taxes. We are not filthy rich compared to the locals, and we are not filthy rich compared to our peers back home. For most of us, Korea is not as good of a deal as it once was.
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| People who were here 10 years ago will tell you it was like being a rock star and you made as much money as a middle income office worker at least. University jobs were easy to get as well. Do you know how much the women in Kebab restaurants make? About 2M. Recently my wife was talking to a woman who sold waffles in a tiny crappy tent outside my apartment she said she made 3M! |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 6:30 am Post subject: |
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| Housing and year end bonuses can put us up near or above 3.0 million. We are neither rich nor poor but compare to the average. Seoul might be a little different but that Samsung worker making 5 mil a month has to pay 3 times the cost of rent or for an apartment compared to out of greater Seoul. 3 mil, especially outside of Seoul is well within the middle class. So, don't know why some harp on us and say we're poor. Only difference I guess is sending a chuck of our pay home to pay down student loans and other debts, I guess. Even in Seoul, how many make in the 5 to 6 million range anyways? |
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misher
Joined: 14 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 2:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
OK, first of all the only (and by only I mean 99+%) people making 6 mil a month are lifers with Korean wives (and hence the f visa). Also there is the dude who graduated from a top ranked university and published several books. How many people are like that though? The glass ceiling for almost everyone is very low.
Next, Korea has a widespread problem with Korean citizens underreporting income to avoid paying taxes. We are not filthy rich compared to the locals, and we are not filthy rich compared to our peers back home. For most of us, Korea is not as good of a deal as it once was. |
This and
Many of the workers in the survey are probably right out of undergrad/grad school without any job options that pay well. They are most likely living at home, had their education paid for by their parents. 2-3 million won a month doesn't sound so bad (considering their parents grew up with next to nothing)living rent rent free without any debt.
Also, we as native speakers mostly come from Canada, US, UK, Australia (many from Canada). These countries (well maybe not so much with the US anymore) do have high standards of living as they are considered you know...1st world countries? After all that money that is dropped on education (40k for a BA another 20K plus for masters?) most of us should be doing much better than teaching EFL in Korea as a long term solution (assuming you aren't married). But hey, if you want to fling your $2500 dollars a month(which would be considered borderline poverty back home) in the face of 50% of the Korean population that makes less to make yourself feel better about reaping the benefits of your nationality and education from a 1st world country, then so be it.
Many Koreans are actually still quite poor. It is a developing country after all and Im not going to sit here and massage my ego saying "oh well I make more than 50% of the Korean population so my 60k worth of education from Canadian universities was well worth it."
That's bull and the Korean construction worker making 2 million a month would be in agreement saying "wait a minute!You are from Canada, a filthy rich country, have 60k worth of higher education from universities my children could never dream of attending, and you have been in Korea for 5 years making not that much more than me? what's wrong with you!?"
If you want to justify staying more than a few years in Korea on an E2 by saying you just like living in Korea and Korean people then fine. However I don't care if I make more than 50% of the population. It doesn't make me feel any better when I look at my peers back home with similar levels of education making more with a very high ceiling.
Also those "hard done by" conglomerate salary men in their 30s get a lot of perks and allowances that increase as they get older, not to mention salary bumps and bonuses. EFL hagwon/PS school monkeys get a crappy 1 room apt that wouldn't rent for more than 400-500k a month. Yay. University teachers are really no better off. They get lower hours (which is also changing for the worse) but their pay only increases with added contact hours on top of their base. I dont think many people go into teaching as a career to teach 7-10 contact hours a day to break 60 grand a year. |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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No, but most us came over here to pay off debt more quickly than back home. Salaries are higher for some jobs depending on where you live but the cost of living is dramatically higher. The fact is that 40 to 60 K debt loads are pretty crippling and really impact your quality of life even if you start making money, which you don't right away anyways. Of course, a lot has changed in the past 4 years with a plummeting exchange rate and flat wages which has changed the game compared to the first couple of years I was here and was my original reason for coming here. I stayed because the economy was shedding jobs after this time. Now I could prob go home, but still have high start up costs as I'd have to move to a big city and start at the bottom. I think you have to be debt free and have a large chunk of cash saved to get a start on a life. Plus, some of us will have to upgrade our skills when the time comes too.
I'm not sticking my nose up at anyone. But, these stats prove that we shouldn't let anyone here stick their nose up at us, either. |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 4:36 pm Post subject: |
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| I can't speak to the others, but I slowly am paying things down. The reduced won since 2008 has made that a much slower task. Once that's done along with some other debt I accumulated (my fault on that one), then I can make choices. Anyone who has no debt and is still here without a plan...well.... |
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littlelisa
Joined: 12 Jun 2007
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Weigookin74 wrote: |
| I can't speak to the others, but I slowly am paying things down. The reduced won since 2008 has made that a much slower task. Once that's done along with some other debt I accumulated (my fault on that one), then I can make choices. Anyone who has no debt and is still here without a plan...well.... |
I have no debt and am here without a plan. I came here without debt and didn't really have a plan then either (I had reasons to move here, but that's not the same as a plan). What's wrong with that? It doesn't mean I'm not continuing to learn or trying new things, and doesn't mean I'm not enjoying my life. It doesn't mean I don't take my job seriously either. I've been here for almost 5 years now, and when people ask me if I am going to stay for a long time, I tell them I have no plans either way. I will stay until I want to leave and then move on to somewhere else, although I imagine I'll probably stay here for a while still.
I am (mostly) within my field, btw. I studied TESL. I am not here because of no other options, and could easily have taught ESL at home (shortage of ESL teachers there), or go back and teach there. I didn't come to Korea for the money, so that doesn't really figure into things, either. I suppose it might be different if your goal is to move back to your home country and start up in a different field. |
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Stan Rogers
Joined: 20 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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The study assumes that the statistics are accurate.
The study's findings also assume that all Koreans are declaring 100% of their earnings.
Grain of salt anyone? |
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Malislamusrex
Joined: 01 Feb 2010
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| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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| 2 million won is very high for a Korean worker (accept for big companies and skilled workers). |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| The latest finding shows that college graduates are being squeezed into lower-quality jobs, with 27 percent of graduates earning less than W2 million a month. |
...which means 73% of college grads earn more than that. Many Korean universities suck too, and are little more than diploma mills. Anyone who pays the money can pass.
How about a comparison of overall median Western incomes for college graduates? That should be enlightening. @.@ |
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12ax7
Joined: 07 Nov 2009
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| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:25 pm Post subject: |
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| misher wrote: |
Many Koreans are actually still quite poor. It is a developing country after all and Im not going to sit here and massage my ego saying "oh well I make more than 50% of the Korean population so my 60k worth of education from Canadian universities was well worth it."
That's bull and the Korean construction worker making 2 million a month would be in agreement saying "wait a minute!You are from Canada, a filthy rich country, have 60k worth of higher education from universities my children could never dream of attending, and you have been in Korea for 5 years making not that much more than me? what's wrong with you!?"
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You're misinterpreting the fact that the South Korean economy is growing rapidly as being a sign that it's a developing country. It isn't.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developed_country |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:34 pm Post subject: |
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Great link! (Not sure what your point was, but I like how it shows-even when taking into account "cost of living"- the U.S. is a great place to be. Loads of disposable income there, and the U.S. is getting better, not worse.)
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developed_country#section_4 |
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