Is NT$41,000/ Month Too Low To Be Teaching English?

Work time is work time. :2cents:

I removed some posts. If you care to offer advice or otherwise participate, address the message, not the messenger please.

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Aw, sorry.

Don’t worry, it happens all the time :metal:

It wasnt on purpose. I missed my bus stop since i was very unfamiliar with area. I told the bus driver the city I needed to be in. I had to wait until the bus turned around and went back through the city

My mistake then. Still stand by my original point.

Yes, well, work time is still work time. Being disoriented due to culture shock etc. doesn’t qualify as force majeure.

It was not on purpose, so it should not be counted?

Take a taxi if you are unsure on the first or second day

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Our point is, you being late, is primarily your problem, not the employer’s. No employer wants to hear excuses that CAN be controlled.

However, this is a lesson very well learned. Whenever you get a new job and the commute is one you’re not used to, it’s best to make test runs. Google can only help you so much.

You can live cheap anywhere, Canada included. Food can be cheap in Canada, if you stick to the nutritional equivalent of a cheap take out lunch box.

Once you start to live the lifestyle equivalent of your colleagues in Canada or many of your friends and colleagues locally you will find that the cost of living is not so cheap - almost all of the non-essentials that we have purchased recently are far more expensive here than elsewhere.

Not sure if this has come up in the thread, but the minimum salary for a foreign devil is around 48,000. However, a job that pays less than 55-60 is probably not worth your time.

Pretty sure this doesn’t apply to teachers, but rather white-collar office workers. And yes, it was discussed further up.

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Yeah, I think this is the best idea you’ve had so far! You should do it immediately. Let us know how you get on. Bon voyage!

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…OK, OK, OK, now I’ll give a run down, when I first arrived here 17 years ago, the monthly salary was typically 60, 000ntd’s, today it’s still there for most schools, back in 2001, 60,000ntd’s was a strike/hit gold, the COL was a lot lower than today’s COL obviously. I could typically save after expenses, utilities etc paid out, 30,000 a month, today, I can only save around 13 or 14000ntd’s if I’m careful. I’m not an extravagant spender, i don’t drink as i used too, or do drugs, (which i never did btw) etc, for a packet of cereal, say, Muesli, it cost me back in 2001 here, 95ntd’s, now its double that price, even half again on top, like total 226ntd’s about. We should be getting 90,000ntd’s these days minimum, to weigh in with the COL of today.

To weigh in with the COL of today, everyone’s salary including locals should have increased by 150%, or 30000ntd.

Should have gone up like Korea but didn’t.
Very unfortunate for millions.
Cost of food has gone up a lot for sure.

Sadly 60k mth is still a decent salary in Taiwan.

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I used to work in Korea. Salaries are stagnant there as well. At least in the teaching industry.

I’m sure everyone everywhere shares the same view.

Short version: Me, too. Not absolutely, one hundred percent sure (especially because I don’t know Chinese), but pretty sure.

Long, long version:

About five years ago, I made the mistake of indicating that the minimum wage for cram school teachers might likely be NT$47,971.

Someone expressed doubt about that, and upon taking a look at the relevant laws and rules, I admitted that I had been wrong to use the NT$47,971 figure.

Then, someone mentioned the NT$47,971 figure again, to which I responded, “Now I’m really confused!” but subsequently that person amended his earlier opinion, and stated that the minimum wage for cram school teachers was NT$18,780 (which has been increased since then).

There’s a document called “Qualifications and Criteria Standards for foreigners undertaking the jobs specified under Article 46.1.1 to 46.1.6 of the Employment Service Act ( 2017.07.26 Modified ).” I’m not sure whether it’s a legislative act or an administrative rule, so I’m going to refer to it as a “document.”

The English translation of Article 8 of that document says the following:

The wages or remuneration for foreign employees who, or foreigners who, according to the contract for the business lines allowed under international treaties, undertake the jobs specified in Article 4 should not be lower than the amount published by the central competent authority.

The English translation of Article 4 of that same document says the following:

“Specialized or technical work” mentioned in Article 46.1.1 of this Act refers to the following work that requires specialized knowledge, expertise, or techniques for which a foreigner is hired to perform:

  1. Civil engineering or practice of architecture;
  2. Communications and transportation;
  3. Tax and financial services;
  4. Practice of real estate agency;
  5. Immigration services;
  6. Practice of attorneys, or of patent attorneys;
  7. Practice of technicians;
  8. Health care;
  9. Environmental protection;
  10. Culture, sports, and recreation services;
  11. Academic research;
  12. Practice of veterinarians;
  13. Manufacturing;
  14. Wholesales; or
  15. Other work designated as per the joint consultation of the central governing authority and the central competent authorities.

The words “this Act” in the English translation of Article 4 of the document refer to the Employment Service(s) Act.

So it seems to me that, according to the English translation of Articles 8 and 4 of the document, the minimum wage for foreigners is limited to “‘Specialized or technical work’ mentioned in Article 46.1.1 of the Employment Service(s) Act.” But in the list of occupations described as “specialized or technical work” in Article 4 of the document, I don’t see anything that looks like the work performed by cram school teachers. However, cram school teachers can be found elsewhere in Article 46 of the Employment Service(s) Act.

These are, I think, the pertinent parts of the English translation of Article 46 of the Employment Service(s) Act:

Unless otherwise provided in the Act, the work that a foreign worker may be employed to engage in within the Republic of China is limited to the following:

1.Specialized or technical work.

. . .

4.Full-time teacher teaching course(s) on foreign language(s) at a short-term class registered for supplementary schooling in accordance with the Supplementary Education Act.

So it seems to me that Article 46.1.4 of the Employment Service(s) Act refers to cram school teachers, and that cram school teachers, therefore, are not doing the “‘Specialized or technical work’ mentioned in Article 46.1.1 of” the Employment Service(s) Act, and are therefore not subject to the minimum wage requirement of Article 8 of the document.

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