Graduate Student Earning 220,000 Won a Month Takes Weekend Part-Time Job... Professor's Reaction Is 'Shocking'

Graduate Student Working Weekend Part-Time Job Due to 220,000 Won Labor Cost Shortage
Professor Who Knew This Says "If You Want to Earn Money as a Full-Time Master's Student, Quit"
Graduate Students' Top Difficulty "Insufficient Financial Compensation"
30% of Graduate Students Have Been Diagnosed with Depression

A graduate student shared a story about being scolded by their professor after working a part-time job on the weekend. On the 7th, a post titled "I was criticized for working part-time on the weekend" was uploaded to an online community. Graduate student A, who is in the first semester of their master's program, revealed, "I receive a monthly wage of 220,000 KRW. This amount was set based on a 10% participation rate in a national project. After tax, it is 200,640 KRW."

A said, "I simply cannot make ends meet, so since April, I have been doing short-term part-time jobs on weekends. Sometimes I even work on Fridays," they confessed. However, the problem was the opposition from their advisor. A said, "But somehow my advisor found out and angrily said, 'If you entered as a full-time master's student, you should focus on your graduate studies and research. If you want to earn a lot of money, quit graduate school and get a job,'" they lamented.

According to the results of the "Mental Health Survey of Student Research Workers" conducted last February by the Korea Labor Safety and Health Research Institute and the Gonggam Occupational and Environmental Medicine Center, 3 out of 10 graduate students reported having been diagnosed with depression.
[Photo by Getty Images Bank]

They added, "Right now, (with the wage) I can't cover food expenses, phone bills, transportation costs, or rent for my studio apartment. Are graduate students supposed to live without money? I want to focus on research and study without worrying about money," they complained. In response to this story, netizens commented, "The wage is too low," "The professor isn't going to pay their living expenses," "Many professors are out of touch with reality," "How can anyone live on 220,000 KRW," "How is that even a wage? It doesn't even cover meals," "Truly modern-day slavery," "It's not like they work part-time because they want to make money," "Is 220,000 KRW real in 2024?" "If a boy commits a crime, he goes to a juvenile detention center; if a university student commits a crime, they go to graduate school," and so on. One netizen commented, "I was like that during my master's too. I received 300,000 KRW, but how could I live on that? Back then, the professor told me to get an allowance from my parents. That world hasn't changed."

Average Monthly Wage Paid to Master's and Doctoral Student Researchers: 630,000 KRW and 990,000 KRW Respectively

According to the '2021 Graduate Student Labor Cost Survey' released in 2022, the average monthly labor cost paid to master's and doctoral student researchers was 630,000 KRW and 990,000 KRW, respectively.
[Photo by Pixabay]

Earlier, the Ministry of Science and ICT established basic guidelines in March 2022 to improve the national research and development administrative system, stating that appropriate wages must be paid according to the wage calculation rate (research participation rate). They raised the wage calculation standards for researchers for the first time in 14 years to 2.2 million KRW for master's students and 3 million KRW for doctoral students. However, according to the "2021 Graduate Student Wage Survey" released in 2022, the average monthly wage paid to master's and doctoral student researchers was 630,000 KRW and 990,000 KRW, respectively.

According to a survey conducted by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Evaluation and Planning at the time, the top difficulty experienced during research project execution was "insufficient monetary compensation relative to my contribution (52.1%)." Regarding the maximum upper limit of appropriate wages, respondents answered an average of 2.26 million KRW for master's students and 3.09 million KRW for doctoral students.

In response, government policies have been introduced to ensure graduate students' academic and livelihood security. In February, the government decided to introduce a research living scholarship guaranteeing a minimum monthly support of 800,000 KRW for master's students and 1.1 million KRW for doctoral students participating in national research and development (R&D) in science and engineering fields. Additionally, surveys indicate that graduate students' mental health is very vulnerable.

According to the "Mental Health Survey of Student Research Workers" conducted in February by the Korea Labor and Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute and the Gonggam Occupational and Environmental Medicine Center, 3 out of 10 graduate students reported having been diagnosed with depression. The risk of depression was higher among those without fixed income, those experiencing a severe imbalance between effort and reward, and those struggling to balance family and social life due to work hours. Furthermore, 19.9% and 23.5% reported experiencing verbal abuse and insulting behavior, respectively. Also, 40.4% said they had experienced conflicts or discord with their advisors.