This obviously doesn't apply to every teacher in every country but the other day I was talking to a bunch of people who teach here and they all came to the same conclusions. Most of these teachers were from Canada and the United States, but one of them was from the U.K.
Keep in mind when I say "teacher" I don't mean someone like me that just has a college degree of some sort and a TEFL certificate. I am talking about genuinely qualified teachers that went to university specifically for teaching and have real teaching certifications that would qualify them to teach in their home country as well.
For this example I am using 5 teachers from the Singapore International School which is just outside of Da Nang Vietnam, but there are many other examples of such international schools located all around Vietnam. The tuition fees that are paid by parents for their kids to attend these schools are astronomical and all of this results in better teachers, better facilities, and better prestige associated with the kids' education.
I don't know how much it cost to send a kid to this school but it is well beyond the reach of most families in this country. Money buys access to stuff here as well as the rest of the world.
The campus is really impressive and almost seems like a university rather than a K-12 school and all of the employees are qualified to work there by really high standards. I would not be hired there based on my qualifications.
Now I am going to be vague with the numbers here because wages vary all over the world for teachers but the USA national average for a grade or high-school teacher is around $42,000 per year or around $4000 a month. A teacher at an international school in Vietnam can expect to make between 3-4 thousand dollars per month as well and there are some jobs that pay less, some that pay more. This is not the difference I am getting to though. I am referring to two very big factors called taxes and cost of living.
The taxes paid in the United States again varies a lot depending on where you live but for the most part the high tax areas tend to have higher salaries as well. Generally speaking you can expect to pay around 20% of your salary in taxes in the United States. In Canada, because of increased social services, that level is likely more like 30%. I am making these numbers up but I think you get the point.
The tax rate in Vietnam for teachers and for most people is less than 10% meaning that the teachers here get to take home substantially more of their money than they would back in their home countries.
This is a big factor, obviously. But the main factor that leads to teaching in this country perhaps being a better idea than teaching back in one's home country is the highly diminished cost of living in Vietnam.
I haven't lived in every country in the world, but Vietnam is the cheapest one that I have ever lived in. It is quite easy for someone to pay their rent and all bills associated with that house for under $600 a month. Substantially less if you don't require a fancy place and live away from the city a bit. Even for people that are living in 2 bedroom resort-type establishments, the opportunity to spend $1000 a month total on rent and all bills is extremely rare and for someone that is doing that, they are living in a very fancy place that is furnished and has cleaning service included several times a week.
To put things in perspective, the last time I lived in the United States my rent was $1400 a month for an unfurnished place and this was before electric and water was factored in. My rent now is around $380 a month. The place I live in now is also furnished, has 24 hour security, a pool and a gym, and is centrally located. My much more expensive place in USA that I had to share with a roommate in order to be able to afford it, didn't include any of these things.
Also, everything else about life is far less expensive here. Going out to eat costs next to nothing and when you are grocery shopping your money goes a lot further depending of course on what you buy. Staples like meat, fruit, vegetables, milk, eggs, and other such normal purchases cost about half here what they do back in my home country.
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Just an example, but pretty standard and true
So for a single person that doesn't mind living a little bit away from their family a teacher can actually save a LOT more of their salary every month here in Vietnam than they would ever be able to accomplish back in the country that is on their passport.
I know quite a few teachers that are living back in the United States and I wouldn't say that any of them live particularly well. By the end of the month and all the bills are paid they generally have very little if any money that they are putting away into savings or investing. Here, basically every teacher I know manages to save more than half of their monthly salary after all expenses and if they do this for just a couple of years the next thing they know they have tremendous financial security.
So if you are a teacher back in the west with real qualifications that are getting a bit frustrated in your career and feel a bit lost about how little you are managing to save you may wish to consider that it might not necessarily be the job that is bad, but where it is that you have chosen to have that job that is the problem.