By This sucks for all of you being paid in Korean won, great news for USFK servicemembers though:
The Korean won surged past 1510 against the U.S. dollar as domestic shares plummeted Monday.
In the Seoul foreign exchange market, the local currency closed at 1,513 won against the greenback, up 18 won from Friday’s close.
The won-dollar exchange rate exceeded the 1500-level for the first time since March 1998.
In a double whammy, domestic stocks plunged despite a rally in the U.S. market. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) tumbled over 33 points to close at 970.
The tech-heavy KOSDAQ also dropped almost six points to finish at 284. [KBS Global]
It is the sad reality. No mistake...
11:21 am on November 24th, 2008 1
It's not just the dollar. The won is depreciating quickly against most other foreign currencies. Besides English teachers, many other foreign workers I've talked to recently are seriously considering pulling out. The remittances they must send home just isn't enough anymore.
I've even heard the same from illegal factory workers. Maybe this will be a solution to the illegal immigrant problem here. It might work for us in the States too if our economy gets any worse.
12:02 pm on November 24th, 2008 2
Damn and I just bought a ton of Won at 1393. Ah well.
12:29 pm on November 24th, 2008 3
I remember the start of the IaMF period.
It got so bad for a short while there you couldn't send money home because the Won was fluctuating so much during a single day the banks didn't want to touch it.
2:39 pm on November 24th, 2008 4
Juicy bars are going to raise prices and I bet they won't lower them after the Won strengthens.
Boycott the beeeeeatches!
2:40 pm on November 24th, 2008 5
Hi GI…remember me….I'm back…not in Korea but at least visiting the K-blog scene lately and I've been bragging a bit about my good fortune over at Marmot's because of all this won/dollar exchange stuff. Here in the UAE the Dirham is pegged to the dollar so the bad fortune of the won has benefited me as well. I took my recent job at just under 4mill a month and that has surged to almost 6mill a month in just 5 months. Makes debt paying a lot quicker and easier.
BTW…i'm still blogging…if irregularly…drop by.
4:10 pm on November 24th, 2008 6
Yeeee-hawwww. Gonna be a bunch of new '08's and '09's driving around. Got to replace those 97-98's…
4:55 pm on November 24th, 2008 7
Replace my 91', never. Not until they pull the duct tape off its cold rusted body.
8:05 pm on November 24th, 2008 8
Sorry mark, but the juicy bars up here still have the prices at where they were a few months ago, when the won was WAYYY stronger. lol, think i might buy some juice tonite and get somem 5 dollar kettles…oh wait, i mean, 10,000 won kettles, lol
8:07 pm on November 24th, 2008 9
Sorry, by up here, i meant a-town!!
9:59 pm on November 24th, 2008 10
It might work for us in the States too if our economy gets any worse.
Rising unemployment, rather than exchange rates, is driving some immigrants back home. A few families have moved back south and more will probably follow.
9:59 pm on November 24th, 2008 11
A few families at our school, that is.
12:56 am on November 25th, 2008 12
This is off topic, but if Kalani happens to read this, I was wondering if he'd think about doing a post on the state of the hakwon and public school ESL racket — in light of today's Chosun Daily story about unqualified ESL instructors who don't even have a certificate or an TESOL attachment to it…
I am also curious to ask Sonagi if she thinks teachers are going to take a hit in the US as the economy goes down?
I know of a freshly minted MA-T teacher (like myself) who was let go at her school starting next year most likely due to budget cuts here in Georgia…
I'm still trying to talk my wife into taking my MA-T and ESOL certificate back to Hawaii….
Who knows, if the US and Canadian economies go down much, you might actually see some certified teachers heading to South Korea….
9:53 am on November 25th, 2008 13
Depends on where you live, USinKorea. Virgnia's growth was fueled by its speculative housing market. Now that the market's finally collapsed, the state and its localities are hurting badly as property and sales tax revenues are way down while expenditures are rising. No layoffs so far in my district, but there are hints that the dreaded L word may surface after the governor's budget comes out in December. My job is rather secure since several ESOL teachers are foreigners brought in through the VIF program, and their positions would be cut first.
An additional factor we ESOL teachers must consider is the repatriation of immigrant families. Last spring we started to see outmigration of some or all members of a family. The drop in our ESOL population is still small but could grow if the economy sinks into a long recession.
Why would you want to head to Hawaii? A former colleague in Korea took a job there because she couldn't make enough as a public school teacher to feed her two kids in Hawaii.
10:21 am on November 25th, 2008 14
I lived in Hawaii as a poor grad student getting by on my wife's small salary and we lived fine. No kids. But if we could make it on that budget, I'm sure we could do better with a two salaries and kids.
Here in North Georgia, I'm sure the local economy is going to suck badly because it is heavily dependent on the carpet industry and with the housing industry being the big drag, that will hurt here. I figured the region was more sustainable than in the 1970s, when the carpet industry took a big hit, because it is much more global now, but with the economic crisis spanning the world, I doubt it now.
I don't see our immigrant community dropping much, though. It is fairly well dug in, and I know the factory leaders really value it. Current semi-dormant tensions might flare up if factories start to close or have massive layoffs, but I don't see the immigrant community shrinking much. Which should mean ESOL teachers will still be in demand. Especially those with MAs and overseas experience. We'll see…
7:40 pm on December 2nd, 2008 15
"Surges"?
or
"Falls"?