English Teacher's Salary in Japan

[Eigo]

Hello everyone

Looking at some very old job advertisements you can see the salary in Japan for English Teachers for many many years has stayed at approx. 250,000 yen. It's now mid 2020 and it's still 250,000 yen and some at an atrocious 200,000 - 240,000.

Why are salaries not increasing very much or at all? Anyone want to speculate or offer a solid reason?

Thanks

 

[thomas]

Here's my wild guess:

• there is still an abundance of English teachers flooding the market
• the annual salaries in other sectors haven't significantly increased either (see here)

 

[4321go]

If the yen doesn't depreciate or prices don't rise, that's fine.

Maybe the salary of the old employee will be a little higher.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

I was so lucky when I lived there. 1 US dollar = 360 Yen . I confess to doing some black marketing with Japanese friends. On base a 12 pack carton of American cigarettes was only $3.80 and a bottle of Johnny Walker red or black for under $5.00 US. Japanese taxes made them super expensive and I was soon making a lot of extra money selling to friends. I told myself it was OK to help out my friends and was very lucky I didn't go to prison.

 

[johnnyG]

I was so lucky when I lived there. 1 US dollar = 360 Yen . I confess to doing some black marketing with Japanese friends. On base a 12 pack carton of American cigarettes was only $3.80 and a bottle of Johnny Walker red or black for under $5.00 US. Japanese taxes made them super expensive and I was soon making a lot of extra money selling to friends. I told myself it was OK to help out my friends and was very lucky I didn't go to prison.

In korea then, ration control limited you to a case of beer/day ($2.40) and five bottles of spirits/month. At the time I paid for my off base 'hootch' in cases of beer. IIRC, it was 4 or 5/month--any extra and I'd be doubling my money. And I'd either sell the booze chits to alcoholics on base, or buy and resell the bottles somewhere outside. You were also limited to one appliance out of the PX (eg, one iron, one mixer). Big stuff like a fridge or washer you had to account for when you left--ship it back or get busted. There were also people that liked to flip groceries, but it was too much trouble.

 

[mdchachi]

Hello everyone

Looking at some very old job advertisements you can see the salary in Japan for English Teachers for many many years has stayed at approx. 250,000 yen. It's now mid 2020 and it's still 250,000 yen and some at an atrocious 200,000 - 240,000.

Why are salaries not increasing very much or at all? Anyone want to speculate or offer a solid reason?

I'd say the main reason is that there hasn't been significant inflation in Japan in decades. Plus supply/demand pressures.

 

[Glenski]

If people are naive enough to want to accept such a salary, that's all they will be offered. Those salaries you quoted sound like the eikaiwa or ALT salaries; most of those people don't have (or need) any teaching qualifications anyway, and the majority leave here in 2-3 years.

 

[tomoni]

i think many people have touched on some possible reasons, to which I would add::

Because there is very little regulation, it has become a buyer's market. If not for the unstated but generally accepted minimum standard to issue a working visa (of about 3,000,000 per year or 250,000 per month), the rates would be lower.

Now some people might think that it's an unattractive amount of money, but since there is no regulation to speak of except for the requirement of a university degree, and if not from a first language country of English, a certain TOEIC score-I think it's 730 or 650 I can't remember off hand, It is a fairly attractive salary for new graduates who want to travel around and experience life outside of their home countries. With a little bit of common sense and restraint, a new university graduate can have a year or two overseas and save about 500,000 - 800,000 yen

So for young kids who come from countries other than the United States in two or three years, you could pay off your university loans – which is not possible in most entry level jobs.


and so for a young person, it's a pretty good deal.

Furthermore, you are not from a northern country, it's a pretty good salary, and I have been running into more and more NNS with very good qualifications and a high level of professionalism.

So again I think that the reason the salaries are at that rate is because they are competitive and reasonable in light of the qualifications that are needed to teach at an English language school or business if you will.

I think some people look down at Eikawa (English conversation teachers) teachers, but I have seen some very good teachers at Eikawa, and some very poor teachers at other supposedly "higher levels".

Granted there are probably Eikawa teachers that are just in to much about, and I have seen and meet my fair share, but there are also some very good Eikawa teachers.

to wrap up and get back on topic, I think for some people the salary is sufficient.
I will add to that, while there are some stories about schools (chain schools in particular) taking advantage of English language teachers, for the most part Japan is fairly stable, and people generally get paid for working, and don't get shorted as a routine practice by their employers This is not always the case in other countries were native speaker teachers are sought.

cheers

 

[4321go]

Got it~
The increment to wages that a worker requires ?

There is little compensating differential

Because there is very little regulation, it has become a buyer's market

 

[4321go]

I was so lucky when I lived there. 1 US dollar = 360 Yen . I confess to doing some black marketing with Japanese friends. On base a 12 pack carton of American cigarettes was only $3.80 and a bottle of Johnny Walker red or black for under $5.00 US. Japanese taxes made them super expensive and I was soon making a lot of extra money selling to friends. I told myself it was OK to help out my friends and was very lucky I didn't go to prison.

At present： 1 US dollar = 107.2094 Yen
nearly 1/3 ...
It is much easier at that time ~~