Pros and Cons of Current Chinese Market

Hi Everyone,

As I am scouting out a new job, yet again, I am trying to summarize our current lives.

Although they say we should never compare to other's careers and lives, I often do.

I can summarize pros and cons.

Pro's:

a. Anyone who meets the basic qualifications gets a job. This currently means:

- From native-7 country
- The fairer skinned, the better
- Has a bachelor's degree, in-person, from a school that makes the Master List
- Under age 60

b. This income level comes out to about 300 RMB per teaching hour. Sometimes, I have seen even double this.

c. The income to cost of living ratio ensures that anyone with a job has some sort of a middle class lifestyle:

- Enough money for unforeseen medical bills
- Rent
- Food
- Transportation
- Clothing
- Travel on Holidays

d. Even newer laws stamp out corruption, give foreigners the same rights Chinese have to sue bad employers or bad people, ensure social benefits to any worker.

Cons:


Lots of dead end jobs. Few people advance out of teaching. We stay here, make about 300K RMB, and save as much as we can for retirement.

As always, I want everyone to add nuance, data, debate me, etc.

If someone wants to advance in jobs (inside or outside of teaching), teaching at a school (primary-university) has a huge advantage over working at a training center.

Schools have breaks between semesters and in the summer.  This gives a ton more flexibility in applying for jobs, since there's time to scout out schools/companies/whatever during the breaks.  Yes, you can try scouting during major holidays, but that doesn't let you see what the environment looks like during the bulk of the year.  If interviews can be schedule during those breaks, you have a better chance to avoid having your current employer even know you are looking elsewhere.


Another factor to consider is big cities vs smaller areas.  There's a whole lot less competition for jobs in remoter areas, but there are also fewer jobs there.  Salaries in small towns are likely to be lower, but in some cases the lower cost of living can more than make up for this, and is some cases it can't. Having a detailed budget of how you spend your money and spending time scouting the potential alternate location will give you a better idea of how your current salary and current expenses would compare to a potential lower salary and lower expenses in a different location.