Job Discussion Forums

[American Friend of China]

I was wondering, does anyone have any inside scoop on statistics of foreigners employed in China?

I've tried many websites, but I have been unable to come across a pie chart that breaks down the occupations of foreigners in China in terms of percentages. My guess is that at least 90% of foreigners employed in China are ESL teachers, and that most of the remainder are in very high skilled positions and/or are business investors/owners. It seems that there aren't many in-between jobs here. You are either a big guy in a managerial or technical position, or you are teaching the "little emperors and little empresses."

For an American with a Bachelor's in East Asian Studies, it seems that the best paying jobs are in the U.S. national security arena, including the State Department, but I don't really want to go that route. Not a hardcore nationalist. Now, I almost feel that I was duked into majoring in Asian Studies, as the flyers handed out by my university's Asian Studies Department say that this major is useful for finding employment in China. But, most of the Asian Studies classmates that I once knew at my university are now either teaching ESL in China or have sought careers as intelligence officers in the U.S. military. But nothing else.

Does anybody know the statistics of foreigners employed in China?

[beerdang]

According to chinese news source, about 100,000 foreigners are working in Shanghai.
In the past three years, this number has been increasing at an annual rate of 3 percent.
The breakdown based on educational background is 74.96% bachelors,11.49% masters and 2.63% PH.Ds.

Japanese and americans make up about 44.2 percent of the group. 70% of all the foreigners are employed in some twenty thousand foreign invested companies. Most of them have management level positions. Other FEs are in fields such as education, news, medical science, research, publishing and sports.

[khmerhit]

i met a chap who taught in Shanghai. he said it was an ok experience but the inhabitants made it clear to him (in that familiarly oblique way) that they were in charge, they were superior, and they weren't going to countenance a foreigner making a profit in their backyard-- or words to that effect. I've never been to shanghai but i think i know what it's like.