What do Entry Level Jobs Pay?

What do Entry Level Jobs Pay?

In a tight labor market, it's the newly arrived people who feel the pinch first. I frequently get mail from people who've just landed in Japan and can't find a job, they're running low on funds and are starting to get desperate. Almost always, the writers are here because of a Japanese spouse or partner, and they were planning to come regardless of whether they could get a job first.

If you're a native English speaker and have a degree, there are always English teaching and editing/writing/translating jobs. Otherwise, the main opportunities are in manual labor or commission-based sales and consulting. What is the difference between these three directions?

Looking at informal English teaching (versus getting a job in a proper school or university) first, generally you work in the evenings and thus have scope to hold down a second job or to pursue training for an alternative career. You can expect a salary of JPY250,000-350,000 per month for about 30 hours a week. Use the remaining time to either go learn Japanese, or work in the mornings as an intern somewhere. Interning for another 20 hours a week should allow you to pick up another JPY100,000 or so a month.

Manual labor is a tough route to go, especially now that so many able-bodied Japanese are out of work. Nevertheless, the Immigration Bureau says that there are about 350,000 legal foreign factory workers in Japan - so obviously there is still work available. Generally speaking, you will need a friend or relative to help you find a job, and although you may not speak Japanese to begin with, it won't take long to pick it up. You can expect a wage of about JPY230,000-300,000 for a factory job, with scope in some industries for overtime.

Given the alternatives, a lot of people go for commission-based work, whereby the base salary is low or zero, and then if they have the people skills (you must be a high-energy people person, or you'll fail in this area) and hopefully some language skills, you can make up the difference with commissions. Jobs in this category include sales, recruiting, financial consulting, outbound call center work, etc. Generally the base salary is about JPY150,000-220,000.

Commissions of course vary, but are often 5-20% of the service sold, with 20% being typical for recruiting consultants. One thing to watch for is that your employer doesn't consider your base salary a "loan" or "draw". If they do, you'll find your first 2-3 months base salary being deducted from your first commission check - which would be disappointing to say the least.

Lastly, there is language-based piece work. By this I mean copywriting, rewriting/editing, translation, etc., which is paid by the page. The rates really vary depending on your skill and speed. But if you're trying to force your way into the market, you can expect that doing copywriting for about JPY5,000 per 200-word page, rewriting/editing for about JPY500-600 yen per 200-word page, writing for about JPY30-40 per word, translating for about JPY1,500-2,500 per 200-word page (J->E), are competitive rates that will make a language work broker sit up and take notice.

This is not supposed to be an exhaustive list of job options, but all the above are common routes for newly arrived foreigners, before settling in and discovering your own niche.

As always, my contact details are simply: terrie.lloyd@daijob.com. Looking forward to getting some enquiries...