Korea, einst ein Anziehungspunkt für ausländische Englischlehrer, verzeichnet bei E-2-Visum-Antragstellern den niedrigsten Stand seit sechs Jahren
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2026-05-07/national/socialAffairs/Once-a-magnet-for-foreign-English-teachers-Korea-sees-E2-visa-applicants-hit-sixyear-low/2581838
11 Kommentare
When the music’s over turn out the lights
TLDR; AI use is reducing the need of English teachers.
They say it is because of AI but their source is a single guy who benefits financially from the issue.
What about the stagnant wages? Not just for English teachers, but the parents who have to choose which hagwons they can afford to send their kids to.
What about the growing acceptance of non E2 visa English teachers? Plenty of countries can provide high level English teachers outside of the E2 specific (inner circle) countries.
So many reasons for this decline but of course AI is the buzzword for lazy journalism.
Wages haven’t really changed in years for English teachers and things are more expensive across the board.
So, how’s the number of unfilled positions?
This is just my guess.
Far fewer kids, far fewer students, translates to fewer private schools, leading to stagnant wages for teachers. The industry is in decline overall.
Wages are just not competitive, and the poor exchange rate offsets any sort of cost of living decreases and housing benefits. It’s a bad deal if you are from most E-2 countries to come and teach in Korea. The pay sucks and teaching in both China and Japan is an attractive option to people, both countries have just as strong cultural soft power as Korea, even with the boom of interest during the pandemic years.
The decline in E-2 visa applicants shows how much the job market is changing. AI is replacing many traditional roles, but also creating new ones. For data and analytics work, platforms like Skopx are enabling non-technical people to do what previously required a full data team. You connect your data sources and ask questions in plain language. No SQL needed. The future of work is shifting towards these AI-first tools.
In the business world in Korea you can basically assume that unless a native Korean has lived abroad for some time or had extensive English tuition from a young age that all emails and non verbal communication have gone through some sort of AI filter .
Teenagers in Korea who have already had enough of schooling are realising that given the AI advances they may not need to study English any more .
Korea is also one of the biggest AI chat markets in the world . If anyone tells you that this is not mostly because of AI they are wrong .
This is eye-opening. I taught at a hagwon for a year back in 2013. I still tell younger people I know that it’s a good way to save some cash and travel the world if you don’t know what to do after University.
I guess without even realising it I’ve become like the out of touch boomers. I’m still remembering the world as I remember it and not as it is today. It’s truly a brutal world for the younger generation today, I feel bad for them.
When I got out of the military I got my BS just in case I wanted to teach English abroad in Korea. I quickly realized that using my CS degree outweighs my desire to be back in Korea for low pay.. still a backup plan just in case.