Has anybody noticed how much real wages have dropped in Taiwan over the past few years. When I left TW I was making 600NT or around $28.50 dollars Canadian per hour. Looked at the exchange this morning and it is $21.14 per hour or 26% lower than it was in 1999. Wow. Miss Taiwan everyday but do not miss that.
yeah, i saw such and like you am “back home now”. taiwan was great and all but the “real” wage was constantly dropping. my first job in 1999, literally weeks after graduating univ. was teaching at univ paid 800 NT per hour. i was bringing in US 1,000 a week. seems that after CSB got elected the KMT killed the economy in retaliation and things have never fully recovered.
the computer bubble burst and it was downhill.
taiwan was good to me. allowed me to save up a nice nestegg and i just used that money to buy a house.
good luck to all of you still “over there” i sincerely hope you benefit from your time in taiwan on many levels.
Taiwan salaries suck ass. Harder work for less money. I teach in Korea and salaries kick ass here. Free rent, low tax, one month severence, 4.5% pension bonus, OT when I want it, and the kids are much better to teach.
The average starting pay here (2 million Won) is like making over 100,000 NT/month.
I make more than the average bear here. A lot more. And I only teach at one place.
I literally have money flying out of my ass.
I’m glad money doesn’t dictate where I live. I’m here because I want to be. Did you also factor in what taxes back home does to your money? Q. of L.? Cost of living? Cost of working (commute time, travel expenses)? Pimpness?
All important questions…
And to answer the original question (I think it was a question)… Yes, I noticed before I came because I did my homework (came in 2002).
Also, in Taiwan (can’t speak for Korea or CanAda), there’s ample opportunity to make extra chedda through connections or thinking “outside of the English Teaching box.” Easily more so than my back home.
[miltownkid - taking the side of the over-therers in this debate]
Note: If the aim of this thread was to point out the decline in wages, the answer is clearly yes. Not much else to say. Much more fun is the ol’ "Taiwan is better than where you are, nah nah nah :raspberry: " debate.
Hilarious!! “The KMT killed the economy in retaliation for CSB’s election” !!! Up there with “CSB had himself shot” Thanks for the laugh! 
(I’d almost believe it except they’re too greedy for that.)
Yeah, well, if you get paid in NT dollars your salary is getting more and more worthless with every passing day.
j99l88e77,
I plugged 2 million won into my currency convertor and I got TW$64,147.08. Where do you get the extra TW$36,000 from? Certainly not free rent – 'cause Taiwan employers pay all that other stuff.
[quote=“tinman”]j99l88e77,
I plugged 2 million won into my currency convertor and I got TW$64,147.08. Where do you get the extra TW$36,000 from? Certainly not free rent – 'cause Taiwan employers pay all that other stuff.[/quote]
He said it was “like” making 100k.
I also don’t know what that means.
However the online foreign community in Korea must suck ass because j99 is always here! 
[quote=“j99l88e77”]
I literally have money flying out of my ass.[/quote]
Literally? Wow! I’d really like to see that. Got a picture? 
when CSB took office the stock market did take a nosedive. look it up. have things ever recovered? i dunno. by the time i left scads of once humming factories had been pulled down to make malls. those factories relocated to the mainland. i found it all a bit sad. if the plan to bring in pinoys to teach english bears fruit ( i have heard of such plans for years) the present decline will look like the good old days. once they get filipinos in here virtually no citizens of western democracies will long entertain staying in taiwan. will you work for 100 NT per hour? they will.
having lived on both the mainland and taiwan i could not help but root for taiwan, the little engine that could… . as in past tense.
was taiwan fun? yes, but not nearly as fun as china or the PI or Indonesia or scotland or samoa.
have a good time where ever you go; you create your own happiness.
Anybody who knows what a White Castle is gotta be my man. I got half sober one night in Louisville and chucked down about twenty. Strangely enough, I didn’t get foundered, but maybe that’s the magic in WCs. You always want more. Back to the topic, What was it?
[quote=“j99l88e77”]I literally have monkey’s flying out of my ass.[/quote]I’ve heard about that…never seen it though.
Skeptic…Chateau Blanc I’m very familiar with. Like their fries, like their fish w/cheese and used to like their coffee. The clientle always reminded me of the bar scene from ‘Star Wars,’ but I was occasionally one of the members of it.
Louisville (Lou-ih-val)brings sweet memories.
Oh yeah, real wages and what a nickle will get you these days. My grandfather used to talk about when a loaf of “white” bread cost three cents and if you wanted it sliced it was was five cents. That was when “store bought bread” was still a novelty. DON’T DARE ASK HOW OLD I AM! Just kidding, I’m 79.
Ride with them friggen waves, dude! Whatcha gonna do? Tell the bank clerk to give you more? Tell Greenspan to get his shit together and look out for you?
Whatever country you live in the same currency changes are taking place in the guise of higher prices. Here, you feel the real and immediate effect when you want to cash in your ill gotten gains.
Yeah, when I first came to Taiwan, the NT was on par with the Japanese yen, not the US dollar.
[quote=“TainanCowboy”][quote=“j99l88e77”]I literally have monkey’s flying out of my ass.[/quote]I’ve heard about that…never seen it though.
Skeptic…Chateau Blanc I’m very familiar with. Like their fries, like their fish w/cheese and used to like their coffee. The clientle always reminded me of the bar scene from ‘Star Wars,’ but I was occasionally one of the members of it.
Louisville (Lou-ih-val)brings sweet memories.[/quote]
It’s Loo-uh-vul, man! Not Lou-ih-val.
Taiwan has experienced a slow and steady decline in its currency’s worth since 1996. However, having said that, it IS a hard currency that never ‘jumps’ that much in any direction because the Taiwan Treasury/Foreign Reserve is ginormous. You people are basically making a hard currency there.// I ON THE OTHER HAND AM EARNING YEN. Japanese yen. Check it out; in May 2005, only 6 months ago, 100 yen bought 86 cents Canadian. NOW THEY ARE COMPLETELY AT PAR. 100 yen equals 1 dollar Canadian. Eeek. That is a 15% drop in just 5 1/2 months. Eeeeee. grabbing neck and gasping for air*
How have wages decreased? If anything they’ve remained stagnant.
Yes, I know the exchange rate is not favourable for most of us but that is a different animal. We are usually not paid in our home country currencies.
[quote=“Matchstick_man”]How have wages decreased? If anything they’ve remained stagnant.
quote]
Yeah, a bowl of noodles still costs 30NT. Go to another country and see what the same bowl will cost you. Stagnation, as you call it is for those who are stagnated and never go or do anything. Talk to your local Taiwanese businessman (I do not mean some laowai running a buxiban) and he will easily explain how stagnant wages (ie: costs) really are.
Taiwanese businessmen rely on stagnant wages to do business, and are part of the problem. Hence the sweatshops have moved to China. No expensive labour-related costs there.
[quote=“j99l88e77”]Taiwan salaries suck ass. Harder work for less money. I teach in Korea and salaries kick ass here. Free rent, low tax, one month severence, 4.5% pension bonus, OT when I want it, and the kids are much better to teach.
The average starting pay here (2 million Won) is like making over 100,000 NT/month.
I make more than the average bear here. A lot more. And I only teach at one place.
I literally have money flying out of my ass.[/quote]
Money flying out of your ass? The next time you have some soju, pajon and kimchi, would you please fart in my direction?
[quote=“tinman”]j99l88e77,
I plugged 2 million won into my currency convertor and I got TW$64,147.08. Where do you get the extra TW$36,000 from? Certainly not free rent – 'cause Taiwan employers pay all that other stuff.[/quote]
Taxes here are only 2% at most. Some say 3.3, but foreigners get a 30% reduction. I believe that Taiwan’s tax is 13%. 20% the first 6 months and 6% the last 6 months. So, you’re saving a good 10% more (at the very least) in taxes. If you’re from Canada or the States, you pay into pension. You pay half and the boss pays the other half. You both contribute 4.5%. You get that all back upon leaving Korea. So tack on 4.5% to the 2 million.
Basically you can tack on 15% to your Korean salary when comparing it to Taiwan’s.
I was unaware that Taiwan buxibans pay rent. I think maybe some do but I think it’s probably rare. Also, you get one month’s severence pay at the end of your contract and flight to and from Korea are free. Again, I don’t think Taiwan is doing this. If so, they take it out of your salary.
Without the severence and free flight, it’s about 75,000 NT/month. Starting salary plus other benefits. With the severence and free flight, it’s about 100,000 (gross). That’s teaching at one school with no overtime at a starting salary of 2 million.
I shit you not.
[quote=“jdsmith”][quote=“tinman”]j99l88e77,
I plugged 2 million won into my currency convertor and I got TW$64,147.08. Where do you get the extra TW$36,000 from? Certainly not free rent – 'cause Taiwan employers pay all that other stuff.[/quote]
He said it was “like” making 100k.
I also don’t know what that means.
However the online foreign community in Korea must suck ass because j99 is always here! [/quote]
You know, Dave’s isn’t that easy to sign up for. I had to send him a few e-mails. The only sign in I could find was for all the other countries’ forums until he finally led me in the right direction. Now waiting again. Shouldn’t take too long. That was only on Monday. Should be interesting over there. 