# Have salaries fallen? Wasn't there a legal minimum?



## easylife

I've been looking at job postings, and checking out salaries. I noticed Nova, which used to require 40 hour weeks but paid more, now has a work week of up to 28 hours, and adjusts them for cost of living. They offer as little as 220,000 per month for their sponsored employees. When I was there before, companies had to pay at least 250,000 yen per month in order to obtain a work visa for someone.

What happened?


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## april

The private language companies have been forced to start paying compulsory health insurance for employees working 30+ hours a week. The law stating a minimum of 250 000yen a month has changed, but I don't know the details. All I know is that the wages suck!


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## synthia

Where are you located? I was amazed at the difference between living in Tokyo and living in Kita Kyushu. I was working illegally, back when that was easy to get away with, making the equivalent of $35 per hour, getting a minimum of 20 hours per week, and in eight weeks I covered about ten weeks expenses. In Kita Kyushu, I made 285,000 yen with both jobs, and sent home between $800 and $1000 every month. Most months I gave myself 150,000 yen to live on. My 2DK was only 45,000 per month, for instance.


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## easylife

I'd heard that it was getting harder and harder to live on the pay you get now. I remember when it was possible to save a little even if you only worked one job.


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## annamartha

So if I wanted to save money while teaching English, Japan wouldn't be a good choice?


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## april

Apparently Korea is the place.


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## synthia

That's what I hear, too. There are lots of problems with the companies, but the pay is good relative to the cost of living and it is supposed to be easy to get private lessons.

The place you don't want to go is South America, with the exception of Chile, pay runs in the $2 to $6 range.


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## easylife

It makes me have doubts about coming back.


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## april

If you are single then it is fine. You won't make buckets of money without working two jobs and having a smattering of private students. Also, you can't support a spouse on the wage. But if you are qualified then university positions may be the way to go. However, compared to other jobs I think the pay is still crap. My boyfriend is a computer programmer and earns 4 times more than me. Even if I got a masters degree and the associated job, he will still earn more than double.


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## easylife

I've pretty much decided not to come back. It sounds as if it would be harder, for less money.

Is your boyfriend Japanese? If not, did he have any trouble finding programming work?


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## april

Yeah he is Japanese. If you are in the IT industry, there are lots of job over here, it seems these days that there are more foreigners in the IT industry than teaching. In general, the salary is higher. Have you checked out GaijinPot? 

The good news is that the cost of living hasn't gone up either. And btw - the work isn't hard! It only gets tiring if you want to earn lots of money. But for me, working only 30 hours a week is very cushy.


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## japanfan

Is there no legal minimum salary?

Does Japan have a minimum wage?


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