Teaching Salaries

 Please use this forum thread to post any comments about teacher salaries.  These can be general thoughts or refer to specific ads.  General posting polices (no insults, rudeness, etc.) still need to be maintained.  For general job advice, please post in the  Job Seeking Advice thread. 

Salaries

People shouldn't take anything part time under I say bare mini-me 30,000w and that's for boom boom boom classes. 40-50,000w is the norm for one of two classes if they aren't back to back.

I don't know why many of the uni/colleges are paying so crappy these days It might be because of the vacation one gets and they think that might be enough to lure people on their way to Thailand. For the rest of us that live here it's a pitance but stable. The vacations are nice though, even a shitty paying college is better than any hogwan in korea.

As for EPIK I don't know. I've heard more up and down stories than a rollercoaster. People having to sit in a cold empty classroom for months in winter while others are living it up in Vietnam. It's a crap shoot all depending on the asshole or nice principal.  I just can't be somewhere and not be doing anything(9am-5pm) that would kill me. If you like to get in and out then don't work for EPIK, you will have hours upon wasted hours sitting doing nothing [deleted]

I've covered PT,hogee, uni/college,EPIK and spanking, I think I'm done.

Comedian

sitting doing nothing but spanking to Miss Kim teacher in the bathroom.

 

I guess you think that this is funny!You wonder why the managers worry about your comments.Take some time to form a balaced opinion, write it, and leave then it a day before you post.Show some restaint please.

Supply and Demand

I have seen a lot of comments from lee bum suk regarding the pay of certain jobs or your take on whether an advertised job is good or not.  You absolutely have the right to your opinion on each, but if every comment is negative, your criticisms wont hold any credibility. You will end up just sounding whiny. 

The other thing is that schools and foreigners can offer to pay whatever they want for a job. Period. Pay is too low? No one will answer the ad and they might have to rethink what they are offering.  We are a commodity whose price fluctuates and you can scream from the mountaintops what you believe the minimum hourly wage is, but the actual minimum hourly wage is whatever they can get someone to take. 

Taking a look at the disparity between jobs wanted (tons) and jobs offered (few and often on the outskirts of Busan) and you might notice that the English Education industry in Korea is shifting into a buyers market. More foreigners arrive every day and if they want to take 20,000/hr then the minimum wage becomes 20,000/hr.  If you can get 40-50,000/hr keep on keeping on. If someone puts an ad offering 25,000, it might not be worth your time, but from what im seeing, you might be surprised how many people are lined up to jump on it. 

Buyer's Market

You are way off the mark.It can never be with all the restraints and checks for us. Do you have any  real facts to prove your assumptions.Are more people arriving everyday?How many leave?Most of the new people are not informed of what the Price is , or may be.Most people earn a salary which is much lower than the numbers you quote per hour.I guess you must be talking about Privates, which are illegal in any case.Talking about this kind of stuff here is a little tacky, do it in the bar mate or in a cafe mate.I bet immigration know where you live, or there about.

Dear X 40-50,000w is the

Dear X

40-50,000w is the norm, it's not a mythical number I and others have come up with. If people settle for 25,000w I can assure you that the job won't last for long anyway. They might say something like; 'we've had many foreigners at this price' Yeah.... and that's why you don't have one now and are looking.  

If a Korean isn't willing to pay more or wants some kind of discount, you don't want that type of person/ job anyway. You get exactly what you pay for in life. I and other who do a private or two can testify to this. All of the privates I gave a break to or DC or whatever have fallen off the books over the years. The ones that I charge 40-50,000w have stood the test of time.

You pay peanuts you get monkeys, Koreans know this. Am I better at 50,000w/hour than a guy who charges 25,000w? probably not but the consumer seems to think so and  good enough for me.

So go ahead take that 25,000w job, give a DC it won't last more than hockey season anyway. 

It wasn't meant to be literal

It wasn't meant to be literal and by the way angel, I just think of you and also how cold the bathrooms are here anyway and I just keep to defication. My point is that there is a lot of dead time in EPIK jobs. My comments are sometimes harsh because Korea can be that way. If I offended you I am sorry.

With that said Angel if you want to look at hard numbers, there probably aren't any. What there is though as a testiment is the items for sale section. Take a gander at that; fire-sales, two weeks left,have to rid of my stuff.... people leaving after 3-8 years even.  These aren't backpackers on their way through to Thailand, these are vets and people with family ties here. These are the foreigners that should be remaining not the mentioned above.

ps..Owe and retention rates for E1 visa people is around 60%. This I do know. It goes much lower in years 2 and 3.

Mod Note

My bad for letting LBS's comment about Miss Kim slip through.  As Angel suggests, save those comments for the bar (if you must), but keep them off the site. Since it's already been discussed, I will leave your original comment up as an example of something that crosses the line.  In the future, any comment that includes this kind of remark will be deleted in its entirety.  Aside from that, glad to see the beginnings of a substantive conversation here. 

Jeff
 

Dear Angel Privates are

Dear Angel

Privates are certainly not illegal, not for most of the F visa series. I have an F5 visa and can obtain any kind of employment I choose in Korea. If you don't even know this perhaps it's just best you remain quiet. Immigration knows where I live, that's where they sent my registration card...hahah!!!
 

Oh and I don't drink alcohol, I haven't in years nor do I frequent smokey bars.

ps..I should mention that E-visa people are currently not allowed legally to do private classes. You can seek part-time employment at another school as long as the paperwork is completed with immigration.

LBS

Thanks,

             yet again you are wrong.Privates are illegal even for F visas.If you do not register these with Tax office ( which most don't) then they are not legal.I have citizenship my old mucker.You seem to like pissing contests, please grow up !!Refrain from making assumptions, it makes you look ignorant. Like the manager has requested, post now and then, and make it civil & interesting, that's what people want, I hope!!!Talking about these things online tends to irk the governmental types, so do it tactfully, and with respect to others.We are guests here , not Kings, if we give that impression, everything will be taken away very quickly.Have a nice day!Merry Meritz!

I don't know one person in

I don't know one person in all of my years here dumb enough to register their privates. It's like opening pandora's box, it's like telling people you are a little bit pregnant. As for taking the high-road you are probably correct If it comes down to absolute legality. I conceed that.

But not stating earned income is a tax violation issue not an immigration issues pertaining to most F visa people that do privates.  J-walking is illegal, so is speeding, you don't get deported for such things you get fined and that's if they catch you. I don't know one single person ever to be nabbed by the tax office for non-declared privates income.

We are guests here? I thought you said you were a citizen?

Deleted Comments

 Angel, your recent comment was deleted because it was more about LeeBumSuk than it was about making a larger point.  Lee Bum Suk, your response in the same vein was also deleted.

 
 It may be an uphill battle, but I'm determined to limit comments and discussions on this site to the actual topics and not let them spill into personal attacks or sparring. Arguing about information, opinions, or other topics is fine, just focus on the point, not the person.   If you really feel the need tell someone what you think of them, do so via PM.  If a user doesn't want to receive PM's from another user, they can block them.  

No problem mod. I think I've

No problem mod. I think I've gotten across enough of my experience here on the 'things to watch out for' or whatever it's called thread.  Take care.....happy new year.

Moved Salary Comments

 These posts were made in response to this job ad.  The Koreabridge manager after repeated  attemps to encourage people to have this kinds of conversations in the forums, decided to move this particular exchange en masse rather than continue banging his head against the monitor.


so im at the school for 5 hours a day-25 a week for 1.8? no housing, bonus... this is a pt job brother but really ft but without the pay of either. who with a f2 would work for less than 20 an hour? works out to 18 an hour-for a pt kindie job??? you kidding??? anyone witha f visa working for this is either nuts or just plain stupid. and i understand it is 4-40 minute classes but im still committing 930 til 240 of my time. for a f visa holder tha should work out to at least 150 000 won-not half of that. just crazy. and sadly someone will take this and in so doing this, teaching schools they can hire people for way too cheap and thus keep wages down which hurts everyone-even e visa holders. great job guys! you are working for money paid back in 1997.

PART TIME PAY

waaaaaaaaaaaaa, always waaaaaaaaaaaa. Jay, dont take the job. Dont take any job on here. None of them are up to your standards and you bitch about every single ad that comes on. 40-50k/hr jobs are great but with the possibility of large breaks or driving across town to get them, someone may see the idea of a consistent block of time for a consistent amount of money appealing.  Again, if its so ridiculous, no one will take the job and they will have to rethink their hiring strategy...

DCROSS

you want to me a push over and take lousy jobs that hurts EVERYONE-go for it. i want all teachers to get just pay. that is wrong? you must be korean or something because i do not know anyone who does not want jobs to pay a decent wage. i just share my opinion like a free person should when something wrong is happening. 18 bucks an hour is a joke. perhaps these shools prey on newbies who do not know better so i am merely trying to educate people. you knew everything when you first got here? wouldnt you have liked to know everything you do now when you first arrived here? geeze. try and look out for people and you knock that. great job. go work as a slave then AND QUIT READING MY POSTS. IGNORANCE IS NOT BLISS-IT IS PAIN! good luck bro.

SALARY CONVERSATIONS

Deja vu!  Another job ad commentary heading toward personal animosity.  We can have the same conversation every time there's a job ad that some people think offers too little or we can try to build a set of updated resources and discussions that provide people with as much information as possible and let them make their own decisions.  I do think these conversations are important to have (civilly), I just don't think it makes sense to start them from scratch every time.  No more commentary comments will be approved on job ads.  Please post your comments in the the job related discussions that are linked to in the job info block that appears on every job ad page.  If folks have any suggestions for other links to include in that block, please post them in one of those discussion threads. 
Thanks,
Jeff

  CURRENTLY PEOPLE ARE STILL

  Currently people are still taking inferior jobs and it is absolutely dumbfounding to me how and why. With the internet,chat boards like this one, blacklists and with speedy email verification of former employs how can people NOT  get a decent job or even a decent part-time job?  Concider this; there is a reason why no person at my university has been hired in five years. People don't leave good jobs period.

Cross....people do have a right to take legal employment if they so chose and lower wages/hour for multiple classes may benefit one's choice over technically illegal privates at a higher wage. Some of these, forget it...all of these recent positions are empty for a reason. Someone skipped out or is not returning, don't fall for the 'our school is growing line' even if it is true and usually it isn't it means more classes at crap overtime for you. Oh..and lastly the only reason a hogwan would ask for an F2 is because the Es won't stay and why not try? They might even lure a guy who married for the visa and doesn't have a degree. 

I wish someone had told me this kind of stuff 15 years ago, perhaps I wouldn't have gone through such hardships in my first two years. My comments are no-nonsense but they come from experience and the heart. Korea can be a tough place and the retention numbers show it. Also if koreabridge where around then, I would gladly heed advise from grizzled members like myself and Jay.

People giving in for a fast cheap buck only lowers us as a community. I quit the circus along time ago, I would hope the rest of you will demand more out of these blatent cheat opportunists.  If you didn't know before well I hope you get it now.

Thank you and good night.

Part time?

 

Moved from: http://koreabridge.net/jobs/f-2f-4-visa-asap-until-end-february-near-pnu

This is part time? It is short term but not part time. And you provide 10 days off and airfare? WOW! Obvisouly no. And you have to remember Don, people get paid 2.2 but they also get housing, bonus, airfare and so on so the pay has to be more.

Bonus-2.2 or 183 333 a month

Housing-350 000a month

Airfare-average over 12 months is say just 100 000.

Add that to 2.2 and you have over 2.8mil. But you want someone to help out-work short term for only 2.2 while the other teachers are averaging over 2.8. That is fair? Someone with a F2 will do this-work for 40 hours a week or 13 750 WON per hour? ? Really? Sad!!! Start taking care of people instead of trying to line your own pockets! Recruiters are one of the biggest problems here. So many now all wanting a piece of the pie while keeping our wages low due to you guys all fighting for biz. But we lose. Who cares what we get paid as long as you do right...and that was rhetorical as we all know the answer. Thanks!

 

That's about 14,000 per hour

 Moved from: http://koreabridge.net/jobs/substitute-needed-february

 

Are you crazy? Or just cheap?

 That's about 14,000 won per hour, considering there is most likely an hour break for lunch. 100,000Won a day is less than the fulltime teacher would make. There are exactly 20 working days in Feb. Meaning that would be a total of 2,000,000 per month-less than what the fulltime teacher would make.

30,000 per hour is the norm for part time or sub work, but that is not even close to it.

 

Re: Teaching Salaries

@lee-bum-suk I thought your comment was hillarious. Koreans would find that funny as well it seems that many foreigners in Korea are super sensitive or it may just be sexual frustration lol