It is 2003, again!

Shitty Poly strikes again....

2.2 ,no airfare....

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More rubbish...asking for a licensed teacher for 2.2 , 2.3 a month. 

Korea...getting shittier by the day.

https://www.worknplay.co.kr/Work/Detail/Job/215254

they want someone with a doctorate for 2.3 a month? hahahahahaa!

WOW! That is crazy low.

For those that need a reference, this is one of the first offers that I received way back in 2003:

The jub title : ESL full -Time Instructor.
 
Location in Ulsan city
Starting  : July 1.
Teaching time : 1:00 pm ~ 8:00pm
Salary : 1.9 M
Single free housing ( studio)
Monday to Friday
All benefits ( severance pay/ visa/paid vacation/ housing/ 50% insurance..)
Teaching level : Elemantary school students

WOW! That is crazy low.

For those that need a reference, this is one of the first offers that I received way back in 2003:

The jub title : ESL full -Time Instructor.
 
Location in Ulsan city
Starting  : July 1.
Teaching time : 1:00 pm ~ 8:00pm
Salary : 1.9 M
Single free housing ( studio)
Monday to Friday
All benefits ( severance pay/ visa/paid vacation/ housing/ 50% insurance..)
Teaching level : Elemantary school students

Yup.

This is bad, as well....

http://koreabridge.net/jobs/busan-english-teacher-assistant-helper-nicci777

1.9 mil in 2003 would be 2.77 mil in today's money.

Plus roundtrip flights were paid compared to one way (or no flight at all) standard today.

SLP?  For 2.1?  No airfare?

https://www.worknplay.co.kr/Work/Detail/Job/215299

2,0-2.2   for 11-7....yikes

http://koreabridge.net/jobs/busan-full-time-positions-nativegyopo-teachers-aela

No new teachers are coming into Korea right now.  The schools want people already in Korea.  That means you have a bit more power.  Ask for a higher salary.  Upper 2.0s with experience.  2.5 should be for those with no experience minimum.  Stick to your guns.  The problem has been lots of foreigners being pussies who won't push back. 

1.9 mil in 2003 would be 2.77 mil in today's money.

Plus roundtrip flights were paid compared to one way (or no flight at all) standard today.

That was my salary when I first got here in the late 2000's.  Rural EPIK pay for entry level was lower then (though I think SMOE still does this except they won't hire the lowest level anymore).  So, I guess I am ahead of the game for now.  Haven't had a raise in a few years though. 

Nobody's coming, the schools also know nobody's leaving...thats why we are seeing more and more 'F-visa only, licensed teacher, master and/or PhD, 2.2mil' jobs.

Right now everybody is playing a giant game of chicken...sadly I think NETs will blink first and cave in. Ideally I'd want NETs to leave in larger numbers, this would spook schools into offering better rates.

In some other countries NETs and non-NETs are currently having the time of their lives due to closed borders...some salaries are doubling and tripling because these are the only available teachers around, and in some unlucky cases teachers are being held hostage by schools to prevent them leaving (hostage as in refusing to grant visa transfer documents, or threatening to have teachers deported).

Things will get wilder before they settle down.

In some other countries NETs and non-NETs are currently having the time of their lives due to closed borders...some salaries are doubling and tripling because these are the only available teachers around

I'm not sure this is true. The reason teachers are leaving is that businesses are closing. Economic downturns are making it harder and harder for small business (like most hagwons) to make a profit, and ESL teachers are being let go.
   Of course I don't know how things are going everywhere in the world, but friends and family here in Korea, the UK, the US, Canada, the Netherlands, and Japan are all telling me the same thing: hold on to your job with tooth and nails, because unemployment is skyrocketing.

I'm not sure this is true. The reason teachers are leaving is that businesses are closing. Economic downturns are making it harder and harder for small business (like most hagwons) to make a profit, and ESL teachers are being let go.
   Of course I don't know how things are going everywhere in the world, but friends and family here in Korea, the UK, the US, Canada, the Netherlands, and Japan are all telling me the same thing: hold on to your job with tooth and nails, because unemployment is skyrocketing.

All you gotta do is look at Daves job board for China and Vietnam and elsewhere.  Salaries are decent.  China has seen them shoot up, though I wouldn't want to go there now until next year.  So, on the one hand, Korea has teachers till next year at least, but also they will not have new teachers.  I make a decent salary for now, but will need to see a raise in a couple more years. 

Hakwons are charging more and can afford to pay more than what they are paying.  I had previously outlined the obscene profits my friend made running his academy 10 years ago.    So, even with a higher wage expense, they can still make a good profit due to charging more.  They just aren't because they think they can get away with it and stoke sympathies with fake poverty stories.  Part of the problem is the foreigners taking the too low of job offers.  We should start kicking the shit out of them or something. 

Student numbers in the private sector are dropping due to Coronavirus and they'll soon be dropping even more due to the global recession caused by the reaction to Coronavirus, Can't see salaries increasing anywhere much in the near future. 

But don't worry there are still jobs being advertised at 650 won above the minimum wage.

https://seoul.craigslist.org/edu/d/short-and-easy-part-time-job-leading/7166292215.html

Looking for a female under thirty, is that demographic proven to be better at organising debates or something? And you have to be extroverted and outgoing. No doubt he'll also be asking for some full length photos along with the CV.

Here's another that pays slightly more

https://seoul.craigslist.org/edu/d/english-tutor-needed-in-english-kids/7166134863.html

Hakwons are charging more and can afford to pay more than what they are paying.  I had previously outlined the obscene profits my friend made running his academy 10 years ago.    So, even with a higher wage expense, they can still make a good profit due to charging more.  They just aren't because they think they can get away with it and stoke sympathies with fake poverty stories.  Part of the problem is the foreigners taking the too low of job offers.  We should start kicking the shit out of them or something. 

I have a number of close friends, both foreigner and Korean, who own hagwons. You're right in that they make a fair amount of money, but part of that reason is that they work an obscene number of hours, both at the hagwon, and afterwards phoning up the parents (this is a daily chore that can take an hour or two . Crazy.) I can't speak for other parts of the country, but Covid has been a huge disaster economically speaking. It's also given them a lot of extra work: the transition to online classes was not easy, and government regulations make opening to 100% in class lessons very difficult.

   NET hagwon wages in Korea are going down because income is currently plummeting.
   

I have a number of close friends, both foreigner and Korean, who own hagwons. You're right in that they make a fair amount of money, but part of that reason is that they work an obscene number of hours, both at the hagwon, and afterwards phoning up the parents (this is a daily chore that can take an hour or two . Crazy.) I can't speak for other parts of the country, but Covid has been a huge disaster economically speaking. It's also given them a lot of extra work: the transition to online classes was not easy, and government regulations make opening to 100% in class lessons very difficult.

   NET hagwon wages in Korea are going down because income is currently plummeting.
 

But when income was rising did NET hagwon wages go up? Share in our struggles but when we start to thrive don't expect more.

But when income was rising did NET hagwon wages go up? Share in our struggles but when we start to thrive don't expect more.

Yeah, that's how things go, usually. 
Ideally, a fair hagwon owner would increase the wages of their employees, but of course ones that are in it purely for profit will not. Most companies (whether they're in the business of teaching English or not) fall into the latter category, unfortunately.



My friends, by the way, along with their spouses, are the only teachers at the hagwons they own, so I can honestly say that they give every single last penny of profit to the teachers. 

At what point does the inflation of living costs and the stagnant wage cause issues? Surely in 15-20 years you cannot be paying an NET worker 2 million for a months work.

I think it already has caused issues.
It's definitely changed the demographic of the ESL teachers coming to Korea.

The lower the wages get, the more likely it is for NETs to be younger, less experienced, and less qualified.
You're also more likely to get people who look at teaching as only the secondary reason for coming to Korea (ie maybe they're a fan of the culture etc looking for a way to subside their stay in Korea while they chase their hobbies) rather than actual teachers who have a genuine interest in teaching.
  While there's nothing wrong with coming to Korea to explore the K-pop scene in it's home territory or whatever, it *does* mean that the general quality of education will suffer. It also affects the way foreigners in general are perceived (as Koreans form their impressions based on the examples they have here in Korea)

I'm not sure this is true. The reason teachers are leaving is that businesses are closing. Economic downturns are making it harder and harder for small business (like most hagwons) to make a profit, and ESL teachers are being let go.
   Of course I don't know how things are going everywhere in the world, but friends and family here in Korea, the UK, the US, Canada, the Netherlands, and Japan are all telling me the same thing: hold on to your job with tooth and nails, because unemployment is skyrocketing.

As has been mentioned schools in China, the middle East and SE Asia are currently scrambling like mad for teachers...particul arly in China.

Schools are hiring anyone in-country they can find, teachers who once had little to no hope of earning 3 million won per month and upwards at one job are now having offers of that thrown at them.

There is a horde of teachers and other workers from all sorts of countries (including myself) currently waiting to scramble for the first flights available once borders to these places open up.