K12 and Uni teachers can probably reasonable expect anywhere between 5,000~10,000 / month increase, and possibly even more when younger. (And that increase is bigger than it seems since they tend to also receive bonuses.)
1.5万 monthly increase every year. Private JHS/SHS. Bonus rises in calculation with new yearly salary. Yearly increase drops to 5,000 yen while 60-65 years old.
I’m a gen ed home room teacher and we receive bonuses twice a year and a pay raise of about ¥10,000. The salary is higher than average for Japan so I can’t complain!
I’m getting a 3,000 yen per month raise on my second year contract as a direct hire ALT
Hope this information is helpful.
Back in the day I started on ~280k a month and finished on ~330k a month with an eikaiwa. This was also linked to performance (i.e. I had ‘outstanding’ ratings every year). I think this was about the cap for their salaries.
Nova (where I worked for a few months before moving) did something similar. We started on ~280k (I got ~290k as I’ve got a masters) and this increased by ~10k a year until death. I remember doing the the maths before going out (naively thinking it was a job for life / career) and thinking ‘wow so I’ll save some decent cash and be well setup if I’m here until I’m 60/70’. IMO when you understand that’s not how eikaiwa works, your life becomes a lot easier.
Universities are a bit of a myth IMO. I have a master of TESOL and temporarily worked for one but it paid little more than eikaiwa and it was on a short-term, contractual basis (whereas the eikaiwa guaranteed me 5 days a week, 8 hours a day). I’ll get downvoted for this, but being an ‘English tutor’ isn’t the panacea that some think it is IMO (i.e. I moved towns on the basis that I’d be working part-time at a uni… I took a full-time eikaiwa job instead after a few months).
Don’t worry laws and policies hardly ever affect foreign contract workers. lower ranking japanese wont be getting a huge raise too though. only officials, executives, etc.
Unless you are a seishaiin, then the average pay raise is 0.
In fact I know a lot of companies that pay less each year.
Wow. Haha.
Been with interac for over 10 years, since my first year i’ve had a 22500yen raise on my base salary total since starting. 500yen, 2000yen, 5000yen, 10000yen then another 5000yen after having my first child. I usually ask them in March about a raise and sometimes i’ve been lucky to get it.
For eikaiwa or ALT work? A raise? Good luck. Those salaries have been *falling* since the 90s.
We don’t know what kind of job you have.
The only thing we know about you is that you’re in Japan and a slacker.
5,000 a month increase next year for me. I know most people get zero, but totally not worth the pay increase. I’ll be searching for a new job outside of teaching.
I received a ¥10000 raise per month with kids duo after a year and a few months with them. That’s probably not the norm though. Before that, I never received a raise working 4 years at a preschool.
Left one job, got a 20% pay raise at the next job.
I’ve done that about 10 times in my career
Unless you are a seishaiin, 540 is close to 0 so that’s about right. Don’t expect any raises realistically. Was working as an ALT, and got nothing. Switched to an engineering job, so I get about a 15000JPY increase a month and a bonus once every year. Unless you have a worthless degree, and 0 skills, just don’t do this job in Japan.
I started at 295000 per month, got bumped up to 300000 my second year, and 315000 my third year.
ALT dispatched to a private elementary school. No bonuses, but also no reduced pay over school holidays.
The last two jobs I had, I got a raise of 10,000 per month.
After tenure I started getting 5% a year until I reach the cap at 12 million a year. They slightly raise the cap every 10 years when MEXT makes their changes.
Take what you can get I guess but even when I worked at cheap eikawas they gave me a bigger raise than 540.
This year I got a really good deal.
I can rent an apartment in the companies name (any apartment I want, so there’s no Leopalace deal here) And my rent will be taken out of my pay. The raise I got was 20,000 yen per month for the rent. So, Im still paying same amount of tax as last year but will have 20,000 yen extra a month to spend on whatever, so thats pretty sweet.
We’re a medium-sized privately owned eikaiwa school (one location, three full-time teachers).
We give pay rises in the 5,000-10,000 yen a month range for teachers renewing with us.
I actually did get a raise from Interac once after I unsuccessfully applied to a trainer vacancy.
I’m Never teaching in Japan. Financial suicide.
Welcome to Japan!
Japan. The land of the rising sun and falling wages.
27 comments
Normal range? Approximately 0 yen.
Edit: To be fair, this is not limited to English teaching.
For what jobs? For an ALT the general maximum raise is 0.00Â¥ per year.
I get a 1-2 man/month raise every year until I’m 55 apparently.
Depends entirely on your profession and employer.
It is common for ALTs / Eikaiwa workers to receive zero increases, or very modest ones (1,000~2,000 yen / month, say.)
Some nicer eikaiwa schools might offer bigger bumps (say 5,000 / months)
K12 and Uni teachers can probably reasonable expect anywhere between 5,000~10,000 / month increase, and possibly even more when younger. (And that increase is bigger than it seems since they tend to also receive bonuses.)
1.5万 monthly increase every year. Private JHS/SHS. Bonus rises in calculation with new yearly salary. Yearly increase drops to 5,000 yen while 60-65 years old.
I’m a gen ed home room teacher and we receive bonuses twice a year and a pay raise of about ¥10,000. The salary is higher than average for Japan so I can’t complain!
I’m getting a 3,000 yen per month raise on my second year contract as a direct hire ALT
Hope this information is helpful.
Back in the day I started on ~280k a month and finished on ~330k a month with an eikaiwa. This was also linked to performance (i.e. I had ‘outstanding’ ratings every year). I think this was about the cap for their salaries.
Nova (where I worked for a few months before moving) did something similar. We started on ~280k (I got ~290k as I’ve got a masters) and this increased by ~10k a year until death. I remember doing the the maths before going out (naively thinking it was a job for life / career) and thinking ‘wow so I’ll save some decent cash and be well setup if I’m here until I’m 60/70’. IMO when you understand that’s not how eikaiwa works, your life becomes a lot easier.
Universities are a bit of a myth IMO. I have a master of TESOL and temporarily worked for one but it paid little more than eikaiwa and it was on a short-term, contractual basis (whereas the eikaiwa guaranteed me 5 days a week, 8 hours a day). I’ll get downvoted for this, but being an ‘English tutor’ isn’t the panacea that some think it is IMO (i.e. I moved towns on the basis that I’d be working part-time at a uni… I took a full-time eikaiwa job instead after a few months).
Don’t worry laws and policies hardly ever affect foreign contract workers. lower ranking japanese wont be getting a huge raise too though. only officials, executives, etc.
Unless you are a seishaiin, then the average pay raise is 0.
In fact I know a lot of companies that pay less each year.
Wow. Haha.
Been with interac for over 10 years, since my first year i’ve had a 22500yen raise on my base salary total since starting. 500yen, 2000yen, 5000yen, 10000yen then another 5000yen after having my first child. I usually ask them in March about a raise and sometimes i’ve been lucky to get it.
For eikaiwa or ALT work? A raise? Good luck. Those salaries have been *falling* since the 90s.
We don’t know what kind of job you have.
The only thing we know about you is that you’re in Japan and a slacker.
5,000 a month increase next year for me. I know most people get zero, but totally not worth the pay increase. I’ll be searching for a new job outside of teaching.
I received a ¥10000 raise per month with kids duo after a year and a few months with them. That’s probably not the norm though. Before that, I never received a raise working 4 years at a preschool.
Left one job, got a 20% pay raise at the next job.
I’ve done that about 10 times in my career
Unless you are a seishaiin, 540 is close to 0 so that’s about right. Don’t expect any raises realistically. Was working as an ALT, and got nothing. Switched to an engineering job, so I get about a 15000JPY increase a month and a bonus once every year. Unless you have a worthless degree, and 0 skills, just don’t do this job in Japan.
I started at 295000 per month, got bumped up to 300000 my second year, and 315000 my third year.
ALT dispatched to a private elementary school. No bonuses, but also no reduced pay over school holidays.
The last two jobs I had, I got a raise of 10,000 per month.
After tenure I started getting 5% a year until I reach the cap at 12 million a year. They slightly raise the cap every 10 years when MEXT makes their changes.
Take what you can get I guess but even when I worked at cheap eikawas they gave me a bigger raise than 540.
This year I got a really good deal.
I can rent an apartment in the companies name (any apartment I want, so there’s no Leopalace deal here) And my rent will be taken out of my pay. The raise I got was 20,000 yen per month for the rent. So, Im still paying same amount of tax as last year but will have 20,000 yen extra a month to spend on whatever, so thats pretty sweet.
We’re a medium-sized privately owned eikaiwa school (one location, three full-time teachers).
We give pay rises in the 5,000-10,000 yen a month range for teachers renewing with us.
I actually did get a raise from Interac once after I unsuccessfully applied to a trainer vacancy.
I’m Never teaching in Japan. Financial suicide.
Welcome to Japan!
Japan. The land of the rising sun and falling wages.