Also, a senior level factory worker (8+ years of experience) earns an average yearly salary of ¥4,600,173.
ESL jobs in Japan are being surpassed by factory work. Thoughts?
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[https://www.salaryexpert.com/salary/job/factory-worker/japan/tokyo](https://www.salaryexpert.com/salary/job/factory-worker/japan/tokyo)
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31 comments
I think they surpassed ALT salaries long ago. It’s apples and oranges…factory workers are actually doing something useful and physically demanding.
Should always be factory worker > ESL job. Bizarre that anyone would think otherwise.
Oil rig workers make more than many jobs too, despite not requiring a degree
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The biggest problem with ALT/Eikawa is the advancement. 10 years in a factory will probably mean you’re making at least 25% more than when you started. 10 years in an Eikawa? You have gone nowhere
# Skill > Ego
Factory jobs in the U.S. pay more than substitute teaching and tutoring. Even more than assistant teaching. Unless you’re a full-fledged teacher with a liscence and education, factory workers are gonna make more than you.
As someone who stacked burning hot gears pressed from powdered metal into crates for 8-12 hours a night for $16 an hour let me tell you something.
I’m *way* happier working with kids for less.
I took a $4 dollar paycut in the U.S. to go work with developmentally disabled adults and later to work as a teacher for adults/kids in the same field. And recently got hired to go teach in Japan where I’ll start in September.
I never made as much money teaching as I did at the factory. But the factory was a soul-crushing, dead-end, pointless job that left me feeling exhausted and depressed. Trapped in a box doing the same mundane task everyday.
Teaching and helping people in need is rewarding emotionally and helped improve my life. And I feel like my experience actually has value and allows me to move up further if I pursue the qualifications.
I’m not saying teachers shouldn’t be paid more. Bring on the cash baby, I’ll take a raise. I’m just saying that the incentive to work in a factory is the money. It makes sense it would pay more.
A factory job is a much harder, more stressful job with longer hours, I imagine
As it should be.
I see factory jobs in my area on Facebook that have a higher wage, more holidays, better flexible hours etc
Why wouldn’t it? It’s much harder work
They also work like 60 hours a week and risk back problems.
My friend did factory work here Osaka for a considerable amount of time making around 200,000 a month. He HATED it every day and was jealous of my lowly ALT position, pay to workload ratio. Have any of you suggesting factory work actually worked in one? It’s fucking brutal, stacking pallets for 8-10 hours. Good on you if that’s what you prefer but in all honestly fuck that. I scroll Reddit and study Japanese 4hrs out of my shift.
Harder and riskier jobs pay more
I dunno about that. I worked at a factory…it was no where near that. Maybe with overtime. That was something that was available, lots of OT to go around.
Tbh I worked in a factory job (albeit a short time) and sitting down and teaching talking English for a few hours is much easier work.
I mean it makes sense. Factory jobs are usually extremely difficult and sometimes even dangerous. I worked in a factory once(overnights too) because of the good pay and the fact that you got 4 days off consecutively, but I quit after like 3-4 weeks. It was BRUTAL mentally and physically. 11 hour shifts standing on concrete floor. Can’t even really talk to your coworkers because the machines are so loud, can’t listen to anything on earphones because it’s a safety issue, just doing the same repetitive motions for almost 12 hours with just the sound of the machinery and your thoughts. Half my coworkers were convicted criminals and I was often the only female worker overnights. It was mind numbing and physically exhausting. It took like 3 out of 4 of my days off just for my feet and legs to stop aching, and then I’d be back to work to get them aching all over again. I can’t even describe how badly your feet will ache from standing on concrete that long
8 years into ESL and you’re physically the same. 8 years into factory work and your body pays the price.
I’d ask why you’re implying that hard labor is worth less than (mostly) supplemental educational work, but… Let’s be real. This sub has a lot of classist takes.
A lot of factory work is actually quite skilled labor. I did temp work in a factory before coming to Japan. No AC, must wear lots of clothes because factory machinery might be unsafe, often dirty, grimy, dark… and on top of that, if you don’t know how to do your station well, there’s no way you’re going to hit your rates. And still shudder every time I think of that time they put me on a forklift.
Nah, factory work is hard and I have no problem with factory workers making more than ALT pay, especially as we move into electronics manufacturing that requires high precision. The problem with ALT work isn’t that it doesn’t pay as much as factory work, the problem with ALT work is that employers will gradually ask ALTs to take on more and more responsibilities of teaching but the pay and benefits are a dead end pretty much from the first year. First year ALTs should be making less than factory workers. After gaining a few years of experience and the ALT taking on work that makes them hard to distinguish from a full-on teacher though, the fact that there is no wage growth respecting that is the problem.
It’s always been like that.
There’s also money to be made in eikaiwa if you properly strategize. The issue is so many people join one company and think they’ll get continuous pay raises just as. Why should Tanaka pay you more for doing the exact same job you were doing 10 years ago?
Either get a job in a different industry, make a practical plan (open up shop) to increase your income in eikaiwa or just keep working for Tanaka and keep getting the same salary (actually less).
My white friend applied for a job with Kawasaki heavy industries and even with a reasonable amount of Japanese they told him he wasn’t welcome and to go and teach English. He’s a decent enough guy. Calm etc practices Aikido. Peruvian and Brazilian nikkei are welcome though. I haven’t met any Nepalese or Vietnamese working in construction yet only at convenience stores and supermarkets.
Once you got promoted to at least a leader, its even easier to make 6M++ a year with about 45 hours of working a week. Less physically demanding, the stressing part is when you need to learn and remember how to fix/troubleshoot the production machine, organize your member to do their job correctly (not to mention most of them are quick tempered), write a lot of kanji for the production report.
Teachers are undervalued in other countries. It is not unique to Japan.
Eikaiwa and ALT teachers continually bitch and moan about how they should make more money, but the number of them who care about professional development and moving on from the no-skills work they are doing is very low.
They made their choice.
And they deserve it, but should be more tbh. I tried doing the day job at kuroneko warehouses for extra income. It was hard work for 4 hours; they pay 1450/hr and not enough. Food industry workers deserve a raise too.
Doesn’t faze me a bit. I love working with children 🙂
Foreign factory workers (Brazilian, Nepalese, Filipino, Vietnames, etc) earn around 20万~25万. If youre a trainee or other slave visa, you earn even less. A lot of heavy lifting, cleaning, etc. Doing all the work Japanese workers dont want to do.
Japanese factory workers usually earn 30万 or more. They just pretend to be busy and baby sit the foreign workers making sure no one gets injured or dies on the job.
Tell me you’ve never worked a heavy labour job without telling me you’ve never worked a heavy labour job.
Christ what a snobby attitude.
Even comparing factory/physical labor with teaching in the US, the physical laborers get paid more…
BUT…
Later on in life, in terms of healthcare, they pay. Also, if a factory/physical laborer gets injured or their health deteriorates, they are FINISHED.
Besides, the skilled trades DO get paid well. Electricians, plumbers, HVAC, etc, get good pay. Also, they are NOT being weighed down by loans and tuition. Its way quicker than a four year degree. Meaning they have a few years of a head start earning their money.
This is not new. Factory work has paid the same or more than eikaiwa since the end of the 1980s bubble. And as you noted, factory work has advancement and pay increases that do not exist in eikaiwa or as an ALT.
If you can provide your own visa (spouse, LTR, PR) and if you don’t mind doing 8-12 hours per day of physical labor in a hot factory, you can probably get a factory job.
Did factory work back in the UK, i was a uni student at the time just doing temp work for extra cash. You should see how lifeless everyone was during lunch, they’d all sit in this small room in complete silence eating a sandwich. I did it for a month during summer and absolutely hated it, i told myself i’d never do any kind of factory work again after that. At least being an ALT at school, the kids will talk to you and something new will happen every day that doesn’t make it monotonous. So i actually agree factory workers should get paid more than ALTs.
I don’t see what is the issue here.
First, factory job is not the same everywhere. Depending on the product, it can be labor intensive and requires certain skills and knowledge to operate different machinery, automation tools and etc.
Second, with the mentioned 8 years of experience, and that salary, the person could also got promoted to line leader. They handle issue within their own line, troubleshooting, devise action plan and ensure their team productivity is maxed.
I don’t mean to belittle any profession, but factory worker can also be equally or perhaps takes more skill than English teaching.
I am able to know this because I have experience working for Japanese Manufacturing firm. So just some insight for ya’ll.
I make more than that.