The Real Slim, Shady Expat Wages Stand Up
Tue Dec 09, 2008 at 5:09 pm By Matt
May I have your attention please?
Will the real slim, shady expat wage please stand up?
I repeat, will the real slim, shady expat wage please stand up?
We’re not gonna have a problem here.
I’ve been polling China’s expat workers as part of a reader survey for bizCult.
Preliminary results aren’t that appealing.
Of 15 respondents so far, the majority are 26-30 year old professionals from North America making US$10,000-$19,000 a year.
Please give me some better news to report with the final results, people. You can take the entertaining survey HERE.
Otherwise, it’s gonna be a grim 2009.
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.
According to the book, Stuff White People Like, #78 on this list is “multilingual children.”
“At the time of this writing, it is considered expert-level white-person behavior to have the children speaking Asian or African languages,” author Christian Lander notes.
But please, wake up foreign and white people alike and realize how much you’re making in exchange for telling your friends back home that you’re at an intermediate Mandarin level: near zilch.
How could this be? You’ve got international work experience, a college degree, at least several years of expertise in your field, and have the balls to take on international challenges like few others.
Well, you’re competing with Chinese people in the job market for one. Their English is better than your Mandarin and they’re willing to work for less.
Second, you seem to buy into the whole spiel about how the cost of living is lower here, so you’ve actually got a great salary, unlike many Chinese people. Note to self: Have you been to Starbucks lately?
Third, you’re thinking current sacrifices will lead to future rewards. Well, it’s true that a few people are make more than $150,000 a year. But do you really want to play job lotto in China, along with 1.3 billion other people?
Unless you’re an entrepreneur or are the managing director of a multinational here (a job that you were offered while working for the same company back in New York), it’s time to reconsider moving home and finally getting that real job.
Or, take the survey and give us white-collar foreign workers more financial hope. Send me an email at editor@bizcult.com if you want to know the final results.
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December 9th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
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 to me!
December 10th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
I made this comment when this was submitted to HHR, but feel the need to repeat it here:
$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.
December 10th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Why is it that the author assumes everyone is white? That’s rather offensive. Foreigner does NOT mean white, even if the author leads an insulated existence in Shanghai.
December 10th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
PS “Under 18 and still a virgin”? What kind of survey is this? I was going to take it until that part.
December 10th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
[…] BizCult is in the midst of a decidedly unscientific expat salary survey. In its post, "The Real Slim, Shady Expat Wages Stand Up," BizCult reveals that of "15 respondents so far, the majority are 26-30 year old […]
December 10th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
尼克,
Expat workers have a sensitive point of career reference in their home countries. They have risen to the challenge (i.e. risked) moving to a strange foreign land - and in strict business terms - for the purposes of securing a better future. Given the fact that they presumably have done more than the average citizen back home (learned a difficult language, gained international business experience), they nonetheless are earning far less. Expat lawyers make less than US$20,000 in China, while they would make six figures back home. Cost of living can’t fill the gap when in order to get better prices, you have to live more cheaply (eat cheaper Chinese food, live in a modest apartment, etc.). Yes, compared to the average Chinese, expats still have it good. But perhaps the Chinese perception that all foreigners are rich isn’t too far from the truth because they can easily be relatively rich. If they choose to live in China, though, chances are, they’re not.
December 10th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Alex,
You’re right about English teachers. They are paid rather similarly to the professionals we mention here. Interesting. It seems that English continues to be a hot Chinese commodity. Thank God I majored in it.
December 10th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
I think Vern is right. I am a overseas returned Chinese and I consider myself American.
December 10th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Vern,
I see you’re a sensitive fellow. Perhaps you should write Stuff Non-White People Like. It probably would be praised by The New York Times Book Review as “appropriately dull given the high potential for baseless ethnic remarks.” White people will read it in droves. Except for those under 18 and still virgins. They have some serious work ahead of them.
December 10th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Elizabeth,
I think you should change your last name to Taylor and wear a perfume that isn’t my favorite.
December 11th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Pardon?
December 11th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Do expats include those from HK, TW, Singapore, Malaysia..? In my industry, we have lots from other Asian counties. They get well paid, partly because they are good in both Chinese and English, but the most important reason is that they do work very hard & their professional standards are very high…
I think those expats working in the office, say business professionals, with manager or senior executive titles, still earn more money than local. Their payment are actually not bad at all. English lauguage could be a good reason to be hired, but not enough now.
As for the English teacher, it’s another story. They never get well paid here, unless they work in international schools.
Again, it’s all about choices. Nobody forces any expats to stay her. I believe the reasons to stay in China, is not about the money, it’s about the experiences, about the differnt lifestyle/culture, about the freedom, about the adventure to some people.
December 11th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
I don’t think the vast majority of expats in China have bothered to learn the language, and most of them only stay for a couple of years. The turn around rate is huge. So unless someone has very specific China skills / experience / language, salaries for expats are not going to be very high here for a group that usually just lasts two years then leaves. You’re far better investing in local staff.
December 12th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Some expats here are on huge packages: massive salaries, housing, car & chauffuer, kids education etc. That can add up to USD500,000 a year plus. But these guys are GOOD. Experienced, trusted individuals who know what they are doing. The long term guys will also be earning a fortune: salaries plus dividends. If you researched the Capital Club expat members you’d find all of them are multi-millionaires. So it depends who you’re talking to. It looks as if this “survey” (you can find 15 people in Starbucks for crissakes) isn’t exactly credible. You need a proper cross section, and the English teachers you mention are generally at the bottom end of the scale unless they’re with a big international school.
December 12th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
“I believe the reasons to stay in China, is not about the money, it’s about the experiences, about the different lifestyle/culture, about the freedom, about the adventure to some people” says Kris
nah Kris, it’s pretty much all about the money. Unless you enjoy experiencing your life expectancy to be dramatically reduced. Who knows
December 12th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Hi Kris,
About 5 percent of respondents come from somewhere else in Asia at this point in survey time. The majority are by far from North America, at 60.3 percent. Twenty-one percent are from Europe, 2.6 percent from Africa, 6.4 percent from Australia. 11.5 percent hail from the mainland here. No one claims to come from South America, Antarctica, Heavan, Hell, or Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. Results aren’t final, so keep the votes coming.
December 12th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Good point Wombadan. But residents of Washington D.C. of this age are pretty transitory too, with few D.C.-specific skills. Starting salaries are much higher, though you might have to stay in a roach-infested apartment in the ‘burbs. You’ll find better Chinese food around the corner, at least.
December 12th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Expatitus, you’re forgetting I mentioned that the majority are 26-30 year old professionals . How many of those do you see among the foreign multimillionaire Capital Club group? Certainly, few if any.
The survey is up to 78 respondents now, and holding with relatively low salaries.
December 12th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Erica,
I agree with you that China is often about making money, but there are plenty of do-nothings here that somehow have a hard time facing their homelands again after wasting a few years drinking cheaply and not learning Mandarin. Who knows, maybe you get what you earn, just as you get what you pay for.