Korean Job Discussion Forums

[margaret]

Does anybody have any figures on the turnover rate for the ESL industry in Korea? I tried searching and all I found was the turnover rate for indivdual schools.
Thanks,
Margaret

[chronicpride]

I don't think you're going to get what you are looking for here, save for a smart comment. I'd say that you are going to have to get ahold of hogwan associations and individual english departments of universities to ascertain this kind of info.

[Grotto]

Over what time period?
I know of hogwans that have gone through 6-7 teachers in a year.

I also know of some that have the same staff for going on three years.

I would say that the average a ESL hogwan worker stays in Korea is under 8 months on average.

[chronicpride]

Any avg joe teacher that's been here for awhile can hazard a guess based on their experiences, as I've seen a mixed bag, too. But I don't think that anyone here is capable of coming up with an industry-wide figure or even a ballpark estimate for that matter, regardless of how more plugged in, we sometimes like to think we are over the next guy. Remember, this is an industry where the govt and press can't even get their governmental and press reports straight, over how many E2 teachers are even in country, let alone what the job turnover of those teachers are. I doubt that even the MoE would have hard figures laying around on this, but they may also be worth a shot.

[Homer]

What chronic said....

You will have a hard time figuring this out Margaret..and this place is not a good place to ask. If you are serious about this you will need to follow chronics advice here.

I have been here a while too but I could only relate my experiences and those cannot, by any stretch of the imagination be representative of the industry as a whole.

For example, my school has a very low turnover rate as teachers stay for extended periods of time. I have seen bad schools go throught 8-9 teachers in a year too. Also, the ESL industry is big and diverse here. There are hakwons, public schools, corporate gigs, universities....

[Ya-ta Boy]

What chronic and Homer said.

No one here at the working end of the industry knows anything factual about numbers. All anyone can do is tell anecdotes from their experiences or what they heard in a bar.

Try contacting the MoE.

[Gopher]

If you seriously want to research this issue, probably one of the most authoritative sources would be with Immigration -- you could compare visas granted with peoples' actual time in country to get a solid number on Midnight Runs, for example.

If you could match this data with the hogwon where the visa was registered, you could cross-reference the data and see which hogwons suffer from chronic Midnight Runs, too (and which ones don't).

Have no idea how you could come by this data though...