The title i have for work on paper is 機械工 I’m not exactly sure how to translate that into english but i think its metalworker.
I started this work 13 years ago when i was 17, my step father introduce me to his company. He did all the negotiations for salary and benefits as i can barely speak Japanese back then. My step father passed away 9 years ago but i decided to keep working for the company cause i found the job interesting and wanted to improve my skills.
The first year of work i was getting around 120000¥ fixed salary monthly and through the years i got 2 raises and i earn around 240000¥ now after all the taxes and stuff. I get 2 bonuses a year which is roughly around 100000-150000¥. How is it for this kind of work?
To give a better description we travel around a lot and half of the time stay on business hotels for work. Lots of 12-14 hour shifts which includes travel time. I don’t get overtime pay and schedule is so tight we work even on holidays and i get 2-3 day-off per month.
Didn’t really think much about it before until i met someone while drinking on a bar and mentioned it to him and his reaction is that I’m getting underpaid.
4 comments
Gonna be tough to assess if all you share about your job is a vague title you aren’t sure of and that you “travel a lot”.
Are you a blue collar? In what industry? Do you have any special skills? Etc.
You can check vorkers.com for salary informations.
機械工 means mechanic btw.
Let’s put it together.
1. You work as a mechanic.
2. You work long shifts without overtime pay.
3. You work on weekends and holidays without compensation.
4. You get roughly 30 man in a month before taxes.
I know that construction companies aren’t a walk in the park, but it’s far from perfect working conditions, to put it mildly.
Sounds underpaid, but as with a lot of blue collar work it really just depends on your skills. Not just how good you are, but how transferrable, desirable, and uncommon your skills are.
The only way to really know for sure is to try to look for a new job that pays more. That applies to everyone.
Some of the worst jobs really pay the shittiest. Once was offered a job for 200,000 with no set day offs, nationwide travel, midnight shift, etc