"Teachers Tread Water in Eikaiwa Limbo" - Is Teaching English Worth it?

This Japan Times News Article is, unfortunately, absolutely true.

As someone who has been involved in several "Eikaiwa" schools, I can say that they are good if you're a recent graduate or someone looking for an interesting change of pace. They are easy places to get "stuck" in, however.  Each of the major companies in Japan is scaling back the contracts and wages of their staff-level employees, while freezing the management level salaries.

For teachers, this is a demoralizing limbo that encourages high staff turnover.  Some companies want high turnover to give students fresh faces - these are the weaker schools, in my opinion.  The better schools will invest a lot more time and energy into training their staff, and they will do anything (except give a raise) to keep qualified and popular teachers.

For students, this situation is not so terrible.  Prices are decreasing due to competition and the huge variety of lesson types out there.  Quality will vary from school A to school B, but there are options for just about any student wanting to get some practice speaking English.