Comparing two hagwon job offers that don't use the same pay structure
Line up base salary, housing, overtime rate, pension, and severance side by side for each offer. A bigger headline number doesn't always mean more money lands in your account each month.
Park English2026-09-103 min read
We get this call a lot in March and September, when two offers land in someone's inbox within days of each other. Say Offer A is a flat monthly salary with an apartment provided, and Offer B is a slightly higher monthly figure but with a housing allowance instead. The teacher asks which one is "better," and the honest answer is: it depends on details each offer describes in its own way.
Korean hagwons aren't required to use a single standard contract format beyond the government's model E-2 contract, and even that gets adapted director to director. One school writes "salary includes housing," another writes "salary plus a separate housing stipend," a third just says "housing provided" with no won value attached anywhere. Same rough ballpark on paper, three different structures, and none of them tell you what actually lands in your account on payday.
Line up the same five things
Before comparing anything, write both offers into one table using identical categories. If a school's offer letter doesn't answer one of these, ask before you sign, not after.
| Category | Offer A | Offer B |
|---|---|---|
| Base monthly salary (gross, before deductions) | ||
| Housing: provided apartment, or allowance, and its won value | ||
| Overtime rate (per hour, in writing) | ||
| Pension: employee contribution rate, or opted out | ||
| Severance: statutory one month's average pay after 12 months | ||
| Contract hours per week and split (teaching vs. desk warming) |
Severance and pension often get left off casual comparisons entirely, but they change the real annual number by a full month's salary or more. Severance under Korean labor law is one month's average wage for a full year of continuous service, paid out when you leave; it's a legal floor, not a perk a school is offering you. A contract paying a little less per month but keeping severance intact for a full twelve months is usually the better deal, not the worse one.
On pension, both you and the school split the contribution. As of 2026 the National Pension contribution rate sits at 9.5% of your monthly income, "전체 보험료율은 9.5%입니다. 일반 사업장가입자는 근로자 4.75%, 사용자 4.75%로 나눠 부담합니다." So 4.75% comes out of your pay, the school matches it. That rate is scheduled to keep rising in small steps through 2033, so ask which year's rate applies to your contract.
Overtime is where offers often differ
Ask for the overtime rate in actual won per hour, not "we'll take care of you." If a contract has nothing written about overtime, ask the school to add a rate, especially for camp weeks in January and August, so everyone is working from the same number. A stated rate, even a modest one, is worth more than a vague promise, because it's the number you can point to later.
Deposits, tax, and the parts that vary
Health insurance is the other automatic deduction, and the rate moves most years. For 2026 the rate is set at 7.19%, split evenly between you and the school. Don't treat any percentage as fixed year over year; ask the school for a sample payslip so you can see the current figures.
If housing is provided, ask what happens to the key money deposit when you leave. Most leases return it within a couple of weeks of move-out; ask the school how it has handled this for previous teachers.
None of this tells you which offer to take. It just means you're comparing the same five things twice, instead of comparing two headline numbers built on different structures.