Korean Job Discussion Forums

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

3.72 Million Won ($3,200) a Month
South Korea's 20 largest business groups listed on the Korea Stock Exchange (KSE) saw their workers' monthly wage jump to 3.72 million won ($3,200) in the first half of the year, up 10.16 percent from 3.37 million won in the same period last year.

1. Samsung Electronics average monthly wage is 4.03 million won.
2. Kia Motors average monthly wage 3.28 million won.
3. SK Corp. is 5.17 million won.
4. Hyundai Motor saw its average monthly salary jump to 3.5 million won.
5. Hana Bank raised its monthly wage to 4.04 million won.
7. LG Philips LCD paid its workers 2.61 million won a month.
8. Shinsegae Department Store recorded the lowest average monthly wage at 2.09 million won, but exclusion of the firm's 3,911 part-time workers put the figure at 2.75 million won.
Korea Times
09-13-2004
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/biz/200409/kt2004091317050511900.htm

Mashimaro · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Location: location, location

how many hours are they in the office compared to your average ESL teacher?

weatherman · Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Location: Korea

That is some good money, and the little secret is that they get so many bonuses too. Total package is a lot more than what is being reported.

How many of us will get a Chu-sok bonus in the next week or two? I am not talking about a box of can tuna, but really cash, as in 1/2 your monthly pay? I know I will not be.

inkoreaforgood · Joined: 15 Dec 2003 Location: Inchon

The Real Reason this information is relevant to our situation here in Korea as an FT: we should be paid much less!!

For example, the highest average pay rate, SK at 5.17 million, really breaks down to hours worked vs. pay. Some estimates for office hours exceed 80 hours a week, and don't always include perks like housing. So, at 30 hours a week that 5.17 mil becomes 1.93 mil. Mind you, this is the highest rate on the chart. Let's equate SK to a good university job, or an excellent hogwon. For the average hogwon, let's turn to Kia, at 3.28 mil a month. That 80+ hours a week wage is equivilant(sp?) to 1.23 mil a month for 30 hours a week!!! That's right, the average kiddy or mixed hogwon, for a teacher with some experience (not a newbie, they should get less Sad

) is 1.23 mil!!!

Should this information end up in the hands of hogwon directors, then the days of milk and honey are over for most of us poor teachers!!! Rise up and destroy the source of this information before our livelihood is greatly debased!!!

Wink

Please note this post is done tongue in cheek, and is not an attempt to actually encourage teachers to "rise up"!! Remain at your seats and continue drinking....

weatherman · Joined: 14 Jan 2003 Location: Korea

I get tired of these counting of hours. As if that was the only criteria for what constitues full employment. I work only 15 classroom hours a week. But I am on campus another 50 hours doing mets and greets, networking, editing, having lunch with the profs so they can practice their English, and other fillers that aren't in the contract but add up. Counting of the hours only really limits the meaning of full employment.

SuperHero · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Location: Superhero Hideout

19 hours per week. 3.4 million plus another 15-20 hours of prep. I'm still doing well compared to your average Korean dilbert but wait a moment I get a ton of vacation and only work 4 days a week.

Real Reality needs to wake up and stop posting the same crap over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

inkoreaforgood · Joined: 15 Dec 2003 Location: Inchon

Real Reality · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Location: Seoul

inkoreaforgood,
All those employees graduated from internationally recognized universities, right?

SuperHero,
I do not earn near that much.

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

Teufelswacht · Joined: 06 Sep 2004 Location: Land Of The Not Quite Right

This is my first posting on Daves's!! Drums and whistles please!

Anyway, I don't see any problem with the poor smucks at a chaebol being paid whatever. I think they deserve it! There are a lot of other responsibilities that aren't covered like going out with the boss until he decides it time to go home or other kinds of forced fun. I am unfamiliar with the way things work at a large Korean company. Do they usually pay for housing? How about medical? What about dental? Do they pay or reimburse their employess for the hundreds of thousands of won they spend to send their kids to hogwans so they can look at EFL idiots like you and me? How many times are they forced to contribute to this charity or that? Maybe someone else can educate me on the hidden costs of working for a large Korean company. Maybe Kangnamdragon or others would have a better insight.

True, they may get Chusok bonuses or other bonuses, but when you factor in other aspects of the job that are not readily apparent, I feel darn lucky to be an EFL slave instead of a chaebol slave. I don't have to care about appearances the same way they do. I can say *&^% it and leave. They can't leave without a significant risk. They have to live in their little Seoul boxes otherwise known as apartments with no end in sight. They have to endure the family and societal obligations that we laugh at. No wonder they get screwed up on soju as much as possible. They couldn't pay me enough to be the first son of a Korean family and a chaebol employee. You want to talk about pressure!!

I see these guys daily and have nothing but pity for them. I think they should get all they can and then some. If they get 5 million a month, good on them.

Let's be honest for a second. How many of us are really worth the money that they pay us. I mean really. C'mon be honest. Okay, we come from far away (Star Wars theme would be appropriate), put up with crap that is well documented here on Dave's internet playhouse, and we try to teach English as best we can. But how many of us are really qualififed to do the job we are doing? Okay, if the qualifications are white, native speaker most of us have met the basic qualifications. But with a few exceptions, I would say that other than the basics we fall short. What is the average pay 1.8 or 1.9 or 2.0.? What did we really do to deserve this in Korea? We were born in a western country, learned English as our native language and graduated from a university with a degree in window washing or whatever. What right do we have to even discuss and comment on what a chaebol slave makes? With what I have seen and heard, the more they can make the better.

Of course, I could be way off. I admit that. But, in my own experience, I just can't compare the wages a Korean company employee makes and my salary. It seems like comparing apples to Chevrolet trucks.

Anyway, if I'm way off the mark, so be it. But I have learned an important lesson typing this. One shouldn't drink and type!

inkoreaforgood · Joined: 15 Dec 2003 Location: Inchon

kermo · Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2004 7:54 pm Post subject: From what I understand...

University education in Korea is largly just window dressing.
What I mean is that the real gruelling work is done in high school, and when you get to university, you're pretty much home free. Just pay your fees and coast until you get that piece of paper.

Those whom I have spoken with may be exaggerating, but that may explain why Koreans genereally don't give a hoot about their universities.

crazylemongirl · Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Location: almost there...

Newsflash... you can work as hard or as little as you want and it has very little to do with how much you get paid. It has to do with whether the job you do is in high demand or not. It's called CAPTAILISM.

At the moment there are a lot of teachers looking for jobs so the pay isn't as good. So perhaps we need to get rid of a few teachers so that the supply goes down. I nominate RR. Although perhaps the constant feed of negative newsclips from papers is RR's way of keeping the supply of teachers down so we can get paid more.

JongnoGuru · Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004