Job Discussion Forums

bluetortilla · Joined: 18 Apr 2006 Posts: 815 Location: Henan

Don't know about y'all, but I see a economic decline just about everywhere these days. Asian economies like China and Indonesia are booming, but a huge part of that is based on manufacturing of consumer goods that, one would think, developed countries are finding it harder to buy. You can't have 50 cakes and eat em all by yourself too. Not in one evening of sitting in front of the TV at any rate.

Who knows though- predicting economics is necromancy. Figures NOW for the US, Europe, and Japan are not good. Indonesia has recently imposed a tough set of regulations for foreign English teachers. Whether it has anything to do with economics or not is anybody's guess. It could actually be an attempt at quality control. It could be nationalist reaction or an attempt to get more English teaching jobs to Indonesians. Or a combination.

While there might be more Americans around in China now 'working' (doing what- teaching? cite figures please) it doesn't necessarily mean they're simply fleeing the economics horrors of the USA. Most people aren't so bold to dash to a country as distant and different as China just to make maybe $10-15 K USD a year at the expense of saying goodbye to family and friends.

China is attractive now for the young and curious, just like Japan used to be. If your credentials and experience are good and you find your job still being chipped away at, then you have some decisions to make perhaps.

China's policy toward FT's is up to them and always will be. And if the market mean longer hours, etc., because of a flood of new FT's, my advice would be to go somewhere else where you find conditions more to your liking.

Just my one yuan.

Old Surrender · Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 7:52 am Post subject:

Non Sequitur · Joined: 23 May 2010 Posts: 4724 Location: China

Slightly off the track but connected, is this thought:
In the future much English will be 'non native to non native' communication.
A Chinese supplier emailing a Korean customer IN ENGLISH. It will be low level in vocab and grammar and poosibly incorporate a lot of txt spk.
If native speaking FTs want to stay in the game we should should be aware of the shift and participate in it.

bluetortilla · Joined: 18 Apr 2006 Posts: 815 Location: Henan

DosEquisX · Joined: 09 Dec 2010 Posts: 361

I think China is seeing their supply of teachers increasing as I have noticed that salaries are going down dramatically while hours are going up.

Then again, I am applying directly to universities on my own which could explain the horrible offers I have been receiving.

jaydizzle · Joined: 25 Nov 2011 Posts: 57

Based on the Americans that I have contact, I would say that yes, there are a fair bit who come here because jobs are hard to find in America. I don't know that it's a significant figure though, since it does take a fairly steep (for me, anyway) investment of money and time up front to get to China to begin a job. I can say that losing a job in America did help me make the decision to come here though, and there are certainly economic benefits for being here.

That said, though, you may as well ask if tax benefits are responsible for the rush on ESL jobs here too. There's simply no way to tell.

zanerguy · Joined: 19 Oct 2004 Posts: 21 Location: shanghai

The school I started at in 2004 had great difficulty filling all their positions. The one I am at now was desperately looking for more people in 2007 when I first started, and still is now. I think they have about 30 FT's total. As far as I know, 3 or 4 of them are American.

bluetortilla · Joined: 18 Apr 2006 Posts: 815 Location: Henan

It still seems to me that China is on a boom when it comes to vacancies for FT's. Just try to get a job in Japan now! I found the job seeking process in China to be very welcoming.
It takes a lot of gumption to get up and move to a place as unfamiliar as China for an English job (with low pay), though obviously some do. I really doubt there will be any mass migration though. Most people tend to stay put near where they were born.

zootown · Joined: 27 Nov 2009 Posts: 310

Miajiayou · Joined: 30 Apr 2011 Posts: 283 Location: Nanjing

Chinese will be the international language when aliens land and wipe all knowledge of any concept of an "alphabet" from everyone's brains.

Cyberkada · Joined: 04 Dec 2011 Posts: 306 Location: Xi'an, China

FIREFLY.... I always thought it was *interesting* that Chinese and English would dominate language-wise...

No seriously, Cebu is booming as an English training center for (Koreans and to a lesser extent, Japanese). The Global Call Center Industry is being centered in the Philippines. Ayala Mall there is packed with Koreans on most days...

Cyberkada · Joined: 04 Dec 2011 Posts: 306 Location: Xi'an, China

One of the big issues is the airfare and initial costs for Americans coming here. Younger teachers will balk at having to come up with airfare and initial living expense money to get wages lower than unemployment would pay in most cases. Many American FT hires are probably in Asia already it seems...

Opiate · Joined: 10 Aug 2011 Posts: 630 Location: Qingdao

Beyond1984 · Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 462

"I wish we would stop undercutting each other for wages." Twisted Evil

- Old Surrender

""I'm a two-bit man. You take my job for twenty cents. And then I'll get hungry and take my job back for fifteen....I can't starve so's you can get two bits ..." Confused

-John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, Penguin edition, p. 436.

-HDT

"How does it become a man to behave toward this American government today? I answer that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it."
-Henry David Thoreau, "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience," 1849