Job Discussion Forums

[theoriginalprankster]

Out of interest I am checking what jobs are on offer in the China market, so I've been in touch with a few agencies.

One of them was Echo agency in HZ.

We were chatting on skype today, and they offered me a position in Ningbo. When I told them I don't like Ningbo they suddenly said "we have an unhappy record of you leaving Xiamen".

Complete and utter bollocks. I left Xiamen because my contract with Xiamen Uni had run it's course.

I asked where they pulled this nonsense from. They said "we have people in Xiamen".

What a pile of steaming elephant dung. I detest liars. Stay away from Echo agency in HZ!

[rioux]

I thought you were leaving this place? (Time to hit the highway P2)
Thanks for the information about Echo in HZ. What a low class operation.

[theoriginalprankster]

[rioux]

Understood.

No reason to up and leave since you are already here without searching around first.
It took my wife and I a lot of time and effort to get our next job. We originally had another one all set up at a different school and were ready to sign on but when they sent us the contract a major thing that we specifically asked about (and they agreed upon) was suddenly changed (of course not in our favor). Incredible. What a waste of time.

[LarssonCrew]

I have to say, I'm beginning to lean more and more towards finding private work and not bothering with having so much from a set job.

I used to think that was the way forward, that having a large set salary and peppering with privates was the way forward, but have since realised a few things:

A) The actual pay per hour is normally low. If they ask you to do 9-5 that's 40 hours a week, so even if you end up with 16000 after tax, that's 100 per hour.
b)Tax becomes ridiculous once over about 17,000. Paying 20-25% tax when you see absolutely no use of it[what do you get for your tax money?] I know it sounds bad but just getting cash each time from privates works.
c)The holidays are often abysmal. I've seen more and more jobs offer either 5 days holiday a year [?!?!?!] or the pay is half for the summer and winter OR even less.

So yeah, job offers seem to actually be getting worse.

[getbehindthemule]

[Alien abductee]

[getbehindthemule]

[jimpellow]

When I was in Jiangsu and they started to impose an income tax on teachers, the rationale was so the teachers could help pay for the infrastructure and services they use.

"Also, can we even claim tax back if/when we decide to leave China?"
There is also the social tax which runs about 11.5 percent for the teacher and about 35% for the school. The potential benefits are many including health insurance, unemployment, maternity leave, pension, transportation card.

I believe that right now they are are only giving out the health care and transportation card. None of the others a foreigner can in general legally do as of present. So, it is a joke that they make the teachers and the schools pay for them.

They have talked about allowing foreigners to draw a pension after they leave China, but I can't see them ever actually paying out considering the reality of China's impending pension crisis.

Last I read, a foreigner who paid this social tax could apply for a refund for the roughly 10% which was accumulated and never used. The funny part is one had to start the application approximately three days before leaving China and a handful of steps had to be completed in quick succession for the refund to occur.

I think a few people have reported here and there that they did indeed receive it. I think the vast majority never apply for it. I would think many would be on these boards complaining how they got screwed out of it as someone in the school/government/bank screwed it up somehow.

The school gets none of it back. It is a money grab by the government to try to shore up declining revenues for a pension system that has a very bleak future due to China's demographics.

Most could care less about the schools having to pay the 35%. But I have argued before that this tax along with the very high fees to now process a z-visa are causing a huge increase in labor costs for the schools.

I am of the belief that this is partially behind the cuts in holiday pay and mediocre salary increases, despite the march of constant inflation and a very tight labor market for qualified teachers.

[The bear]

Getting a bit off topic but I'll chime in on the tax thing.

It really does annoy me how heavily taxed the foreigners are in this country, especially when it doesn't seem to go towards anything. Even more so when estimates suggest only 1.5 - 8% of Chinese people pay income tax.

https://books.google.co.in/books?dq=population+paying+income+tax+in+china&hl=en&id=ajGVBwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA7&ots=2jb0ZUQsiy&pg=PA7&sa=X&sig=yps0vOH6gIFI9Tx2eRnHV3jAa3s&source=bl&ved=0ahUKEwjxrJOx9eTPAhWGtI8KHf66C1UQ6AEIbTAH#v=onepage&q=population%20paying%20income%20tax%20in%20china&f=false

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2011/0831/China-to-cut-income-tax-for-60-million-people

So yeah... I try not to think about it. Especially considering how shady the business practices are here. So the next time a local says something like 'you foreign teachers earn so much', correct them with things like lack of pension, lack of subsidized health care, no grey money (hongbaos), no bonuses etc. etc.

[frankieboy]

Agreed. I worked for Echo towards the end of 2016. Total liars, and thieves!

[GreatApe]

Just for clarity's sake, does "HZ" refer to Hangzhou?

Because, as far as I know, there are several "HZ's" in China.

--GA

[theoriginalprankster]

[GreatApe]

Thanks for clarifying that for me, OP!

--GA