Filipina Post Grad with Masters degree gets 25K per month. Some questions....

[WhamBam]

A Filipino friend of mine is a post grad with a masters degree and she gets 25K Baht a month. The money is paid to an agency who then giver her 18K per month after their fees.

This sounds to me to be not a lot of money, but I know very little about this subject and am hoping some of you more experienced people can help out with some answers.

She is based in Chonburi.

Previous experience is 2 years teaching English in China and 1 year now in Thailand.

What would she be expected to earn with her qualifications?

What would be her best course of action to get a better wage than she is currently getting.

Is there a best time to be applying for jobs?

Any other helpful information / advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Satcommlee]

Having a bachelors degree attracts a minimum wage of 15'000 THB a month in Thailand, not sure about a Master Degree though..

[lostinisaan]

A Filipino friend of mine is a post grad with a masters degree and she gets 25K Baht a month. The money is paid to an agency who then giver her 18K per month after their fees.

If she's got a 12 months contract, the agency takes 84 K as a "fee", which is unbelievable. She should at least have her 25 K.

Can't she look for a better paid job and say goodbye to the agency? I know that many schools only "offer" around 17 K, with a BA, or a Master's but she'll find a school that honors her Master's.

Please take under consideration that some Asian countries make it easy to buy such a Master's, or get one online, without attending a university.

[culicine]

Having a bachelors degree attracts a minimum wage of 15'000 THB a month in Thailand, not sure about a Master Degree though..

That minimum applies to Thais, and still not all agencies apply that. I don't know many foreigners earning less than that, so i don't think it's much of an issue.

25K would be quite ok for a Filipina - bearing in mind the qualifications don't mean all that much to employers when race seems to count much more when salary is calculated. Sad but true. We have a few good Filipinas working at my school for about half my salary doing basically the same job. They also have the pleasure of making all the Christmas decorations for the whole building. I think most of them get 20-30K in my school but usually the salaries are never discussed. We don't use an agency for them though.

[Scott]

I know that quite a few schools pay a starting salary for Filipinos at 17,000 baht per month. Some also give a small housing allowance (2,000 - 3,000 per month). A lot of schools do not pay more for a Master's Degree. I know that those who can teach a specialized subject, such as upper level Mathematics, Sciences, etc., start at 20,000. I know a lot of schools do not want a Filipino with a Master's in English. When it comes to English, the accent and the TOEIC score are probably more helpful.

Of course, some schools pay more and some pay less.

The problem that many people have is that they keep changing jobs and they end up going through probation period after probation period and starting over at the bottom of the salary scale.

[WhamBam]

Thanks for the helpful information.

From what you say it seems she is not so hard done by financially than other Filipino teachers.

I find it hard to believe she (and they) get this amount of money, especially for a genuine degree.

I will pass on the information. From there she can look at her other options that I understand she has.

It is good to have people here with knowledge and willing to pass it on :-)

[SlyAnimal]

Thanks for the helpful information.

From what you say it seems she is not so hard done by financially than other Filipino teachers.

I find it hard to believe she (and they) get this amount of money, especially for a genuine degree.

I will pass on the information. From there she can look at her other options that I understand she has.

It is good to have people here with knowledge and willing to pass it on :-)

18k per month is reasonably standard for Filipino/Chinese teachers here.

The usual "range" that I've seen is about 15k - 20k, although I personally know of some teachers on 8k and others on 25k, so it does obviously give/take a little depending on the school (The 8k Filipinos then makeup additional income via special classes for 100 THB per hour).

When it comes down to it, Filipino teachers aren't native English speakers, and when a job is advertised, there are hundreds of non-native English speakers who apply, but only a handful of Native English speakers. Supply and Demand dictate salaries, and most schools simply have an over supply of non-native teachers so aren't willing to pay more.

Also when it comes down to it, most native English speaking TEFL teachers only receive around 25-35k per month (On average, of course some earn more/less), and are generally the preferred option over non-native English speakers. Thus most schools aren't going to pay the same price as a native speaker when they're only receiving a non-native speaker.

But there are definitely schools out there who would be willing to pay a little more than what your friend is currently receiving, particularly around the 20k mark, but possibly higher as well. I don't know if it'd necessarily be worth moving for though, as your friend is likely well established in the area and probably has a good relationship with the school, she might be able to see if they'll increase her salary a little based on that relationship.

Also the best paying jobs (For both native and non-native speakers) are often difficult to get, as many of the best jobs aren't advertised, but instead existing teachers will recommend people they know (Which is exactly what my school does, where they very don't find new teachers themselves, but instead leave it up to the departing teacher to recommend candidates). As many schools don't really know how to find good teachers, and if they outsource to an agency, then the agency clips the ticket for some amazingly high amounts (Although often not all goes to the agency, there is sometimes an "arrangement" with representatives at the school, or if all goes to the agency, then the agency might need to clip the ticket for a lot to offset any money paid to the school in order to initially secure a contract with the school).

[konying]

What she should be getting?

Whatever employer or agency pays her

What she could do?

Go look for a job that suits her

PS. Her current salary is about double to what she would get back home

[otherstuff1957]

It's simply a matter of supply and demand. Anyone who has had to advertise for a teaching position knows that the overwhelming majority of responses will be from Filipinos. An ad might get literally 100 responses from Filipinos and maybe 10 from Farangs. So, the sheer number of Filipinos applying for jobs will tend to drive their salaries down.

To further muddy the waters, most Thais who are doing the hiring don't speak English well enough themselves to tell the difference between Filipinos who are almost native speakers and ones who really butcher the language. The OP's friend probably speaks and writes English quite well, but when the people doing the hiring don't, her abilities become irrelevant.