How Much Were Teacher's Paid 10, 20, 30 Years Ago?

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Ivyman

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How Much Were Teacher's Paid 10, 20, 30 Years Ago?
« on: May 02, 2017, 11:57:34 AM »
Hi Everyone,

I understand many Chinese parents are worried that their English teachers will be as incompetent, alcoholic, womanizing, etc. as the ones they had.

My best guess to explain why things may be different is: pay rates.

Even though teaching always paid a living wage, the salaries 10, 20, and 30 years ago were nothing compared to Western salaries.  In China, today, you a good job can pay up to $50K a year, equivalent to about a Western salary.

However, my guess is that 10, 20, 30 years ago the ratio was more like 1:5, 1:10 or more. 

How much were these salaries?

My guess is ten years ago a good reasonable salary in China was about 5000 RMB a month, twenty years ago 3000 RMB a month, thirty years ago about 1000 RMB a month. 

Your thoughts?
« Last Edit: May 02, 2017, 12:03:45 PM by Ivyman »

Re: How Much Were Teacher's Paid 10, 20, 30 Years Ago?
« Reply #1 on: May 02, 2017, 04:47:23 PM »
Fifteen years ago I was paid 3,200 per month and - without anyone directly knowing my salary from me - I used to hear all the damn time how foreigners were paid so much more than Chinese teachers. It felt like propaganda at the time. The usual reply at the time, which probably missed some important point, was foreigners were paid that one lump sum while the Chinese teachers, when they were crying poor, were talking only about their "basic salary", which left out the 13th month bonus, the payment for actual teaching of class, and the endless number and variety of fringe benefits supplied by their institutions, not at all limited to heavily subsidised purchase of apartments.

But pay hasn't been a point of contention for years now. Everyone knows now that Chinese staff have significantly higher standards of living and that foreigners pay scales haven't changed much at all. We're definitely not in their league any more.
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Re: How Much Were Teacher's Paid 10, 20, 30 Years Ago?
« Reply #2 on: May 03, 2017, 05:01:05 PM »
10 years ago, I started at 10,000 a month.  Then my criminal bosses (both FTs who started a business to recruit and supervise FTs at the Translation Center) decided they weren't making enough money from their scheme.  The flat salary for all the FTs these two liars recruited was changed to "per hour".  All benefits (sick days, vacation days, etc.) were removed.  It came out to about 5000 a month after that.  Some pre-existing FTs at the Translation Center were smart enough not to let their contracts get moved under these guys, so were unaffected.

Both of these "people" were Saloon members.  I consider this to be another reason not to trust ANY recruiter ever.
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Re: How Much Were Teacher's Paid 10, 20, 30 Years Ago?
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2017, 05:08:27 PM »
I worked in Shenzhen about 10 years ago. First job paid RMB5500 with a small apartment.

Second job was at an adult training center for RMB8500 without an apartment, which cost me about RMB1600.

Last job I had was at a grad school and it paid RMB8600 the first year and RMB9200 the second. And that was for only about 20 total hours per week (office hours included). I also taught part time for a semester for RMB150/hr.
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Re: How Much Were Teacher's Paid 10, 20, 30 Years Ago?
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2017, 10:01:18 PM »
Forgot to mention I also got an apartment as part of the deal.  It was old and a bit spartan, but adequate.  The foreign weasel in charge of this recruitment scheme had a much larger and newer apartment.  Guess which apartment was prominently featured on his website as an example of the sort of accommodations employees could expect?
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Ivyman

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Re: How Much Were Teacher's Paid 10, 20, 30 Years Ago?
« Reply #5 on: June 09, 2017, 04:54:24 AM »
Thanks.  I'm guessing these lower salaries went a lot further, though?

10,000 RMB ten years ago must have the buying power of what 30,000 RMB is today?

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Re: How Much Were Teacher's Paid 10, 20, 30 Years Ago?
« Reply #6 on: June 09, 2017, 05:54:02 AM »
Prices have gone up, but not that much.  If we exclude buying an apartment ( aoaoaoaoao aoaoaoaoao aoaoaoaoao ), I'd guess the total loss to inflation over 10 years would be in the 20-25% range.
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Tree

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Re: How Much Were Teacher's Paid 10, 20, 30 Years Ago?
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2017, 09:03:17 PM »
Based on the Consumer Price Index only, the value today of 10,000 from 2007 is about 13,000 RMB. So a modest but very real increase. Looks like EL was close!
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babala

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Re: How Much Were Teacher's Paid 10, 20, 30 Years Ago?
« Reply #8 on: August 20, 2017, 08:46:35 PM »
17 years ago I was on 4000 yuan per month. That included apartment, all bills, free computer plus food (not cafeteria, we had a cook at the foreign teacher residence who cooked 3 meals a day for us).
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