Some young people are teaching in countries like South Korea as education funding is gutted and recent grads face a tough job market in their own countries. Faced with high stress, low pay, and unstable domestic job markets, a growing number of Gen Z graduates are moving to countries like South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan to teach English. These young professionals are finding opportunities abroad through government-funded programs that offer robust benefits they struggle to secure in their home countries.
Just a year ago, 25-year-old Arianna Marie was struggling to manage her elementary school classroom in Florida. Living with her parents to save on rent, she felt her passion for teaching dry up during her very first year after graduation. Overcrowded classrooms, driven by a regional teacher shortage, left her completely exhausted. When her school district proposed transferring her to another school, she decided to seek opportunities overseas. Today, she lives in Daegu, a city in southeastern South Korea, working as an English teacher.
The move has completely transformed her career outlook. Marie now enjoys a shared classroom setting with another teacher, a stark contrast to Florida where she had to manage more than 20 children entirely on her own. Beyond the cultural appeal of living in the home of K-pop and K-dramas, she has found a level of professional respect that was missing at home. She noted that her students are highly receptive to corrections and show deep respect, allowing her to focus entirely on teaching without having to constantly manage behavioral issues.
Marie's position is part of a South Korean government initiative that places native English speakers holding a college degree and a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certificate into local public schools. As the South Korean government increases its education spending, it provides teachers with free housing, flight reimbursements, healthcare, and starting monthly salaries of approximately $1,400. Other East Asian nations, including Japan and Taiwan, are making similar investments to attract young global workers.
This migration comes as young people in Western nations face increasingly difficult economic realities. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates in the United States has consistently outpaced the overall national unemployment rate. For those who do find work, wage growth has failed to keep pace with inflation. Public service sectors like education have been hit especially hard, with new teachers frequently leaving the field due to low wages and intense stress. Additionally, federal funding cuts to the US Department of Education have intensified the pressure on American public school teachers, who are overwhelmingly female.
The desire to move is not limited to Americans. A Gallup poll conducted last year revealed that 40% of US women would choose to move abroad if given the opportunity. The trend is also catching on among young workers from other nations facing economic stagnation. Zwiwe Dlamini, a 28-year-old from Durban, South Africa, felt trapped in a deep depression while working as a corporate administrative assistant. Despite South Africa's notoriously high youth unemployment rate of nearly 70%, she quit her job. After a fruitless six-month search for a better local position, she applied to the same South Korean program as Marie.
Dlamini was placed in Incheon, a city in northwestern South Korea. Thanks to free housing and low monthly living expenses, she has been able to pay off her debts, build up savings, travel, and start planning for a master's degree. “One year ago, [I] could not have imagined the position I am in today,” Dlamini said. “I couldn’t afford food and had [accumulated] debt, so paying it off now and still [experiencing] life to the fullest – I am actually so grateful.”
Many of these young educators are documenting their journeys on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, where Marie shares her classroom experiences and travels with thousands of followers. This digital word-of-mouth is fueling a massive global industry. According to the TEFL Institute, which provides teacher accreditation courses, the global English-language teaching market was valued at $95 billion in 2026, with more than 2 million active job openings worldwide. The market is projected to expand to $181 billion by 2034, with the Asia-Pacific region experiencing the most rapid growth.
Though many young people initially move abroad with the intention of staying for only a single year to escape difficult political and economic situations at home, industry experts note that a significant number fall in love with the experience. It is common for these teachers to extend their stays to three, four, or even more years as they build stable, fulfilling lives overseas.
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