The Real Slim, Shady Expat Wages Stand Up – China Business
www.bizcult.com — The economy is going down the crapper, and those of us with so-called international business experience already are getting paid - in the fastest growing economy in the world - worse than an American college grad in his first journalism job. Trust me, I know, and I'm also doing a poll of expat workers that says so.
What? You are in China and earning $10,000 to 19,000 USD and complaining? That is 68,802 to 130,724 Chinese Yuan Renminbi per year when the average annual wage in Hunan Province is only 12,000! It seems a rather petty complaint by the author of this blog entry to me!
尼克/Nik
疯狂漫谈…
How to Get Married in China
$10k - $19k year ~= 6k - 11k Renminbi per month. Professional with years of business experience?... that salary can be had by an English teacher fresh off the boat if they're willing to put in 20-30 hours per month, far less hours if they have contacts/get established.
From an article currently on the front page:
"The average wages of state-owned units was RMB11,790, up by 20.4 percent; that of collective-owned units was RMB6,552, rising by 17.7 percent; and that of others was RMB10,581, an increase of 15.5 percent."
If the average wage of a Chinese citizen is less than 12,000 RMB a year, then why is a foreigner whining about *only* making 10 times as much as the average Chinese citizen? That is a pretty big gap!
尼克/Nik
疯狂漫谈…
How to Get Married in China
@Nik: The average Chinese citizen that you're talking about is living in poverty-line pushing areas. The average urban Chinese professional (ie. with a university degree) is earning much more than 12,000 RMB per year.
Though most certainly they are making less than their foreign-counterparts, I think we need to use apples and apples.
I agree about apples to apples, and as such I think foreigners living in China full-time need to compare their wages to others in their country, not comparing it to what people in their home country make. Since the cost of living in U.S. Dollars is nowhere near the same in each country, the salaries should not be expected to be the same or even near the same. Likewise it is more fair for them to compare their salary to the average Chinese wage, if living in China, than to the average American wage of approximately $35,000 a year.
尼克/Nik
疯狂漫谈…
How to Get Married in China
It's still complicated though - taking averages country-wide in China calls into play a massive (3/4) rural population - that's 900+ million people. Granted, when dealing with averages, the size of the numbers only comes into play when you consider the life-style difference between rural and urban living.
I agree that if you plan to stay in China, with no real plans to move home, then you need to start weighing your wage to your local cost of living and definitely the lower cost of living in China skews those figures over places with relatively high costs of living. However, you've got to look at comparable standards of living - how much does home ownership cost, car ownership, proper medical care, insurance, etc.
I guess what I'm saying is I don't believe it's fair to say "you've moved to China, you should live like a poor, un-educated sweet potato farmer in Shanxi."
But then, maybe I should go read the article before making any more judgments :-)
Indeed, everything is much cheaper in China, and I would love to not need a car because of cheap taxis and public transportation like China has. But neither do I think it means you should have to live like a below-average wage earning poor sweet potato farmer. But making 13 times the national average is not a bad wage in China, especially when that average is the average for government employees too.
尼克/Nik
疯狂漫谈…
How to Get Married in China
I believe I've blogged (and haohao'd) on what being middle class costs: http://www.daliandalian.com/blog/poverty-to-die-for-white-collar-3000-kuai
Haha... I'm betting the average doesn't take into account the bribes, "gifts" and swag that government officials "earn".
Of course not! Then again, a good portion of what I make here in China doesn't come from just my teaching salary, either.
Xinjiang: Far West China
Blog Feed
Loads of comments... but where did the story go?
Hmm, good question!
尼克/Nik
疯狂漫谈…
How to Get Married in China
Maybe it went to -2 Hao Haos and was purged from the site, leaving only the comments to remain?
尼克/Nik
疯狂漫谈…
How to Get Married in China