Average salary

[xuechengfeng]

I did a search and didn't really see anything relevant in the past 2 years, post-recession.

I would like to go to China to work, finally. I have been offered a job in the U.S. that will make around $52,000 a year, which will jump to nearly $62,000 next year (government).

That being said, I'm willing to accept less to gain experience in China and improve my language skills (as a side topic, would anybody else do this).

What should I expect?

My desired destinations: Beijing, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen. I realize there are different averages for each area.

My background. . . I have 3 undergrad degrees, one in Chinese. I speak at a low intermediate level and would improve quickly in country. I also have an MBA. I do have a few years of business experience in marketing and sales, but nothing extensive.

Any estimates?

[gato]

It's meaningless to talk about averages without reference to specifically what kind of job positions and employers (e.g. CFO at China subsidy of a multinational). It might be hard getting a job directly from the US, instead of through some internal transfer. An average would be misleading if you can't get the job. Maybe you could give some background on why you are willing to give up a pretty reasonable job offer in the US to come to China. Where are career goals for the next five to ten years.

[Gibbs]

I'm about to finish language study courses in Qingdao and am currently searching for a position in Marketing/Sales. The range for a foreigner with 5+ yrs work experience is anywhere from 8,000元 to 12,000元 per month. I know it's a big range but it depends on you language level, technical background, etc. Just so you know the avg. Chinese will make 2,000元 to 4,000元 per month. This price difference must be justified by the company and is the main reason why you must bring a specialized skill or experience into the salary negotiations.

Please note, this is just from my experiences in Qingdao. Beijing, Shanghai, etc. will have different ranges due to their higher cost of living. In Qingdao for example, you can live in a 'very Chinese' 2br apartment on the 6th floor of a building with no elevator for 2,000元 a month.

You can also look at salary trends (although I'm not sure how accurate they are) at: http://english.meijob.com/?sl=en

[gougou]

I agree that there will be some differences in pay between cities like Qingdao and Beijing; nonetheless I think that the range you're giving is very narrow and low. For big foreign companies, a local hire with five years of qualified experience (meaning in the case of marketing being a low-level marketing manager, not having distributed flyers for five years) should be much closer to RMB 50,000 than to 10,000.

[gato]

RMB 50,000 a month is more than what he's being offered in the US.

[fritz]

Local hire with 5 years of marketing experience RMB 50,000 per month? You've got to be kidding me... Do you live in China?

RMB 10,000 per month sounds about right for Qingdao.

[gougou]

I live in China, I work for a foreign MNC and I know what kinds of salaries people are getting there. Keep in mind that I'm talking about big international corporations, not about small Chinese companies. Our interns get RMB 4,000 + 3,500 housing allowance, you do the math.

[fritz]

Yes sorry for being a bit blunt.

To me it seems clear that the average salary throughout China for a person employed in marketing with 5 years of experience is below RMB 10,000 per month. It's not that easy to get RMB 50,000 in marketing with 5 years of experience even in London, and the UK has a GDP/capita more than 10x that of China.

Average salaries for expats, ABC's, returnees with US MBA's etc, salary levels are likely to much higher. And salaries in Shanghai, Beijing etc are higher than elsewhere in the country. I've heard of an expat in Shanghai sent over here from Europe with two years of experience getting around 40,000 but locally hired foreigners usually get significantly less.

No clue how easy it would be for xuechengfeng to pull it off. Nothing is impossible, especially if he has contacts or valuable experience that puts him apart from local applicants.

[roddy]

Little 学成疯 is all grown up and getting a job. Do any other long-term members feel almost proud?

[xiaocai]

I do feel a bit jealous as we registered in the same year and now he's got a degree in Chinese whereas I am, well still the old me...

Nice name BTW.

[cm202bc]

My position has some parallels to yours, but I came over here last year.

Left a USG job to come here and refine my language skills then find a job that gave a broader base of international experience. I would say I had a bit more work experience than you based on what you posted, but only 2 undergrad degrees and no MBA yet.

Now working for a German-Chinese financial JV, get 6k per month, but could probably get a bit more if I cared to bargain harder.

Given what you posted about your work experience "a few years of business experience in marketing and sales, but nothing extensive" I wouldn't be too optimistic about doing substantially better if you are a local hire, unless you happen to have a very specialized niche someone needs or that MBA is from a recognizably elite university.

Then again, my buddy's GF, who lacks work experience and any advanced degree, just stumbled into a PR/editing job making 15k for a foreign company that was desperate for foreign workers. Right time, right place, interview well, and who knows what you will end up with.

Maybe someone could comment on whether a city with fewer foreigners than Beijing/Shanghai/Shenzhen would give more bargaining leverage.

As good as the experience has been I sometimes get misty eyed over that salary with good benefits I left, given the current economic state of the States.

There's a hell of a lot of our types out here who's general idea seems to follow the underpants gnome business model.

Step 1: Acquire 'experience' working in China for low pay.

Step 2:

Step 3: High salary.

1

[马盖云]

See, Chinese has all these chengyu based on classic literature that we westerners have little hope to be able to recognize.

It is heartwarming that the good ol' USA has some classic culture that we can use for sayings like this:

"There's a hell of a lot of our types out here who's general idea seems to follow the underpants gnome business model.

Step 1: Acquire 'experience' working in China for low pay.

Step 2:

Step 3: High salary."

Actually, I bet only a very few, twisted souls caught that reference (南公园) but I for one LOL'd :rolleyes:

[mr.stinky]

underpants gnomes.....are they hiring?

i'd love to work for a place as big as cartman's pigu.

[carlo]

Now working for a German-Chinese financial JV, get 6k per month

RMB or Euro? If RMB, the office driver at my former employer used to make more.

Saw an article on a magazine a few weeks ago (sorry for the vague reference) with a discussion of salary levels for expats in China. One interesting observation was that the salary range for local hires (Chinese-Chinese) is actually twice as high as the range for local foreigner hires. This may be because (1) local foreigners are mostly young folks here for the "experience" (2) Local locals bring more added value (3) Very few local expats are likely to get into top management in China (I can't think of any, in fact). All in all, a pretty bleak picture (though it's not easier for young Chinese graduates these days).

[gougou]

One interesting observation was that the salary range for local hires (Chinese-Chinese) is actually twice as high as the range for local foreigner hires.

I would like to see more detail on that. Are you saying that Chinese would earn twice the amount foreigners earned? Certainly not at comparable levels of experience?

[poly_99]

Two people of comparable experiance, and one is foreign? That seems unlikely, unless that foriegner gained his experiance in china, or the chinese person gained his experiance abroad. But lets say you have two people, both have about 15 years managing chemical plants, one in china (and is chinese) and one in america (and is american). Their job performance is roughly the same extra and neither have won awards or anything. Surely the chinese candidate would get paid more in china than the american? He speaks the language, he has the contacts, he knows the culture etc.

It seems silly to think that becasue you are foriegn you will get paid more than a local, what extra skills do you have? where is your added value? if you went to australia would you get paid more than a local australian for the same job?

[gato]

Maybe it's a bit unclear what a "local foreign hire" is. Does an expat lateralling from one company to another count?

[anonymoose]

In Shanghai, you can make upwards of 20k per month teaching in an international school, provided of course that you have the qualifications to teach a proper subject.

[Yang Rui]

In Shanghai in 07/08, I made about RMB22,000 a month as a report editor/writer/researcher for a small consultancy with offices in about 20 countries. I am from the UK, Chinese Studies undergrad, no real relevant experience to the sector, locally hired in Shanghai (i left the job in 08).

It's pretty hard talking about "average" salaries in China as there is so much variation. For other points of reference:

an experienced local Chinese researcher in the same company got RMB10k per month.

a local Chinese fresh grad/intern type got RMB4.5k per month

I know a local Chinese merchandising manager in Shenzhen who gets RMB45,000 a month

A local Chinese friend who went back to China after studying for a finance masters in the UK working for a massive MNC in Shanghai got about RMB8,000 on the graduate recruitment scheme of that company and thought it was stingy. The same person got offered RMB10k a month to work as a PA to the head of the business school at one of Shanghai's top universities.

This was all a couple of years ago.

I think a lot of foreigners in China spend their time talking to taxi drivers or teachers or other relatively low-paid people and underestimate what many local people in urban China working at MNCs, banks etc are earning.

[anonymoose]

I think a lot of foreigners in China spend their time talking to taxi drivers or teachers or other relatively low-paid people and underestimate what many local people in urban China working at MNCs, banks etc are earning.

I think you're right, but people working at MNCs and banks and so on only constitute a minority of the overall population.