By The bad news for all you English teachers in Korea continues which is good news for all you USFK servicemembers being paid in US dollars:
The continuing collapse of financial markets across the globe suggests that most countries are equally exposed to the fallout from the global economic recession triggered by the Wall Street crisis.
However, when it comes to currency, Korea has fallen as the biggest victim to the turmoil as its currency has lost the most value against the U.S. dollar among major currencies since the beginning of the year.
The local currency took its heaviest beating in a decade Thursday, with the biggest slide in over 10 years. The won closed at 1,373 won per dollar, down 133.5 won from the previous day, the largest daily drop since Dec. 31, 1997.
The won has lost a total of 436.9 won or 31.8 percent in value from the end of last year, the biggest depreciation against the greenback among 20 major currencies, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The won’s extremely poor performance is standing out as most other currencies have weakened at a much slower pace against the dollar. Some currencies, such as the Japanese yen, even gained some ground over the same period. [Korea Times]
3:43 pm on October 16th, 2008 1
This really does hurt the typical hakwoner – if they are the same as when I left in 2000 —- recent college grads – mostly people in their early 20s who have more debt than they’ve had time to build any kind of economic security.
What is the typical salary at a hakwon these days?
When I arrived in 1996, the won was at about 800 (but going up) and I think my first contract was for 1.0 million a month. When I left the ESL industry, I think the typical contract was for 1.2-1.3 million a month. This was not a lot of money, but with free housing and a lack of typical expenses since you are living in a foreign country – it was enough to pay off credit card debts and pay on student loans back home.
In the worst of 1998, the won went above 2,000 and stayed a good bit about 1,500.
Even when it started getting back to about 1,200, the salary was cut tremendously.
For the people out there now, it perhaps doesn’t look as good as in 1999. The bailouts of South Korea and Asian economies steadied things.
The US leading the economic drop this time around will likely mean recover will take longer……but economics is my weak point….
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10:11 pm on October 17th, 2008 2
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