Job Discussion Forums

[rc81]

I know this is a wide open question and I know that it has probably been discussed before. So, how about this? Lets avoid the obvious answers.

I make about 8000Y for 22 hours in a Uni in Shenyang. Ive been here 3 weeks and I have no idea about how that stacks up to what people make locally or in other parts of China.

I do have two things to contribute:

Ive read that per capita GDP in china is about 9000USD per year and in a mock job interview one of my students said that his salary expectation was 2000Y per month. Those two items dont match up well, but Im looking to hear what other anecdotal examples are out there.

[nickpellatt]

I teach adults who have taken leave from or quit their jobs to come and study English. They come mainly from the south, and most seem to work in Shenzhen and Donguan. One student has just gone back to work and taken a job at 2000 RMB per month...I have two engineers in an intermediate class now who claim to earn around 5000 RMB per month. One of them is in Shenzhen BTW.

Pretty much everyone I have asked states their employment includes food and board, and tax on 5000 is apparently around 10%.

I figure thats a pretty good standard of living for a lot of people! I dont know how typical 5k a month is really...but that leaves a fairly high disposable income IMO.

If I took a permanent contract with a British Council school back home in the UK, factored in the higher taxes in the UK, then deducted rental/utility costs on a studio apartment, and food for a month ... I figure I would have similar disposable income compared to my students, in a country where the cost of living is ten times higher!

[A'Moo]

2000y seems to be the norm. Many Chinese are now being hired as foreign experts to teach Mandarin in Burma, at 400y a month. Most go as they have been promised they will experience the real Burmese culture, and that, although 400y a month sounds low, that is what a local village doctor makes, and you can get noodle soup at side stalls for 1y a bowl, a third of the price back home.

[Zero]

GDP per capital doesn't measure personal income. It's another concept entirely.

Also, never trust Chinese when they tell you how much they make. They might tell you a figure that is "true" by western standards, but it's just as likely, particularly if they are working above the factory-floor level, that they are omitting bonuses and such. The higher up the chain they are, the more likely there are extras of one sort of the other, either legitimate or non-.

[kei1261]

I think it's a good and useful question. Pay rates among the unis here vary widely.

I'll join the discussion and tell you that my university in the relatively small and unsophisticated city of Jingzhou in Hubei Province is 5,000 RMB per month.

Is that good or bad? I don't really know. What's a good rate of pay for a FT at a uni in China?

[johntpartee]

Depends on where you are. A good salary in one place would be laughable in another. Cost of living is wildly disparate.

[killian]

i have been in this town for two years. when i first got here the middle school teachers were making 1000 RMB per month. it was interesting as waitresses in local eateries were getting 1500.

the teachers went on strike for a couple of days. they now get 3000 a month.

the school used to have zero cars outside. now there are about 25.

[SnoopBot]

Most Chinese teachers at English prep universities in Beijing will earn around 4000-6000 RMB+ a month.

University professors in Beijing earn +30K RMB a month. Salaries are skewed to beat tax rates and many of those low incomes are compensated with bonus and other monthly non-taxed income.

I've had students that earn 100K a month in my EMBA courses.

Stated salaries are not accurate or correct.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. How can they drive a BMW or other car on 3000 RMB a month?
2. How can they have house ownership on 3000 a month
3. How can they afford various travel and private school education costs for their kid and support their parents at the same time.

You will see that the numbers just don't add up.

My car expenses were from 2500-6000 RMB+ a month (depending on travel) in Beijing. Any Chinese person that has a car must at least earn this much to cover the costs of their car.

* costs include insurance, maintenance, fuel prices, toll roads and parking fees.

Don't listen to their stated salaries, watch their lifestyle and ownership level to get a more accurate idea.

For FT's 8000 a month for 22-hours is not bad if the rest is included. This would be your typical salary in Beijing if you had a real teaching degree at the master's degree level + experience and hours might be higher than 22 too.

[Hari Seldon]

[Sinobear]

A'Moo: Shhhh! I'm recruiting Chinese nationals for those positions! My selling point is that everyone in Burma is so happy that they pay the gov't for the pleasure of working there.

SnoopBot said it perfectly...what they say and what the reality is, are two different things. At my college, teachers make "1500/mo" yet there are BMWs, Mercedes, Audis, and Land/Range Rovers and a 1001 new Buicks in the school parking lot.

GWOW also said, correctly, in another thread, how CTs have no end to ways of extracting cash from their students. One of the CTs here make 9500 RMB for half a day's work teaching customer service to local companies (although, by the state of the college, no one has any clue whatsoever what customer service is). Other teachers put their students in "remedial" classes at 50 RMB/hr. The students never attend these classes (that never happen) and they pass with 80s.

Do you see the gap yet?

[donb2222]

I do not know of any Chinese teachers that do not give lessons after school.
Many of the CT's will only give half the lesson in class, and then require the students to attend the after school classes for the other half.

I guess the more "clever" CT's are the ones that never hold any after school classes, they just accept money for higher scores.

My salary is about four times the stated salary of the CT's at my school, but the CT's definitely have access to making a lot more money than me.
Many brand new black cars at my school also.

[kukiv]

My mother in law is sick - has to have an operation and a prolonged spell in hospital. Normal Chinese hospitals operate in such a way that require patients to have someone extra to provide food, washing and the bed-pan kind of stuff - and if you haven't got a family member to do the job, you hire a kind of patient baby-sitter and pay them a salary of - 3/4000RMB/month.

Isn't that the same kind of wage some FT are earning?????

FT wages over recent years - in the light of inflation and the kind of rises in the earning potential of the locals - haven't exactly stacked, but more like collapsed!!!!!

But then again you can believe some of the cruddy advertising blurb put out by the big EFL employers - here's a classic from EF -

[Zero]

What has been said is correct. I would like to add one caveat, though. Western culture, in my opinion, is to have one job. Then, if you absolutely have to have a second or third to make ends meet, you do so. (This generalization is really too broad, I admit, because many westerners do have entrepreneurial spirit, but humor me for a moment.)

Chinese culture is to do as much work as you have access to, maximize your earnings by any means necessary. So a second job or side business isn't an "only if you have to" thing or a "nice if you enjoy it, but purely optional" thing. It is a basic and natural part of the work-life equation.

So what you are comparing is not really fair. Foreign teachers in China have every opportunity in the world for extra work. There are part-time jobs, private students, editing jobs, etc., etc. There is also work you can do remotely for western companies, in some cases, depending on your skill set. You could work an untold number of hours if you wanted to. It wouldn't surprise me if you might even afford the payments on a black BMW if you really wanted to. But most westerners working as FTs in China do not choose this lifestyle. They work one job and do little if any "extra" work. (This is not a criticism. I think BMWs and other status symbols are quite stupid. It's mindless pursuit of "face.") Just want to make sure we're comparing apples to oranges.

[HumphreyOmega]

At a school teaching an international curriculum to Chinese students my salary is 13000 per month which includes housing and food. A Chinese colleague makes 2000 per month working in administration but he also tutors in the evening from his home and would make about another 1500 a month. He lives with his parents and does own a car but not a BMW or anything close to that.

[Old Surrender]

I get 8,000 RMB, free apartment, and free Chinese lessons for working 23 hours at a McEnglish joint in Dalian. I manage to sock away some money into savings each month, too.