Yeah, I agree. When I was teaching in Shanghai, I made way more than 5 times my assistant teachers salary. She was completely floored when she learned the difference. I literally could have lived off of 10,000 kuai a month if I had to and that’s because I bought clothes or traveled a lot. I ended up just secretly giving my assistant money every month and took her on trips with me.
There’s a saying in Shanghai,
If you are dating a white guy, make sure he’s not teaching English.
I always thought of it this way: if I’m going to be half-way across the world from friends and family, fork out money for a VPN, and not being making contributions to social security/medicare then it better be worth the money.
I think people are forgetting that ESL teachers usually don’t get end-of-year bonuses while Chinese salary workers do. They are also working toward getting promoted within the company, which is something that generally isn’t available to short-term foreign ESL teachers. When you take these factors into account, I’d say that long term Chinese salaried workers (with a degree) are making more.
It seems that most of the native English speakers who want to work in China as ESL teachers to get high-paying jobs do not know that tutoring policies have changed a lot in China in the past few years. A huge number of private training schools shut down after these changes, even the top ones. The demand is no longer as high as it was a few years ago, and the market is saturated with unqualified English teachers. I’m afraid you are doomed to have poor career prospects here unless you are certified or professional at English teaching. Working as a foreign specialist in specific niches is no doubt a better choice.
You aren’t getting paid to teach English. You are getting paid to be a white face. That’s not really a skill a native can learn.
And ……… already deleted. Posts like this are trying to normalize this thing … stop it. I love the high salaries.
Next you should look into what African Cobalt miners make.
The world is not fair.
Sure, working 25 hours a week for 20k after taxes is great, but that’s not the reality. My salary is basically double that, but I work my ass off. The Chinese teachers have the same office hours that I do, but far fewer classes and, frankly, lower expectations. On a class-to-class comparison, I work much harder, and have to put up with much more bullshit. Now, they definitely should be paid more, and I’m not saying they don’t work hard, but most foreign teachers are not just sliding by on little to no work for giant salaries. On top of that is simple supply and demand, and parents pay big money because there are foreign teachers. It is what it is.
People need to stop accepting the lowball salaries being offered now. It hurts all of us.
lol what is this post. So what if it’s more than what other locals make?
If that is what the market pays, it’s not because what teachers ask. why would you take a lower slower just because you feel bad for other people? And if places pay that much, don’t you think it’s because they see a profit in return? So you’re asking teachers to get paid less. But parents to pay the same. And Chinese business owners who nether care about the Chinese parents. Chinese students. Foreign teachers.
To make the most money ?
And It’s called self worth. If you take the lowest paying job, chances are it’s the shittest job available.
I’m not even a teacher and I find the post complete and utter shite. A teacher can ask for more money because somewhere will pay more money. If schools in a tier one city offer 25-30k after tax for a first time teacher and they can get that job easy, why the fuck would they accept less just because it’s “possible” to live off 15-20k
Seems like you don’t understand the basic economic concept of supply and demand. Why would people come here to teach if they weren’t paid a lot?
Korea and Japan are far more attractive to most people. China’s main advantage is that they pay more.
It’s not a difficult concept to understand and it’s puzzling to me that people like you can’t understand it.
I think as a worker, you owe it to yourself to sell your labour at the highest possible price. The market will sort out what that really is. If you do not stick up for yourself, who is going to do it.
But back to your main point, you are right 15-20K will provide you with a very good standard of living. But if you could negotiate for more, that would give you an even better quality of life and security.
Teaching English is best looked at as a gig, not a career in any specific country. It’s an experiential and cultural experience. You learn so much about yourself, far more than you’ll learn about the culture or language in a few short years. A friend of mine specialized in banging the mothers of his students and was shockingly successful at it. An experience of a lifetime for him but for only a time. He was chased out of the country by angry husbands after two years.
Not all of us are “just a signal person” or looking to remain so. Life requires a lot of money, usually.
Why do Chinese pay Slavic people so much even if their language skill is not good? Just for the white appearance?
Lol why would you want to earn less money thats ridiculous
Unfortunately. As unfair as it is to locals.
Supply and demand.
most of them deserve nothing because they are absolutely useless, yes, but that doesn’t mean that the ones who are actually good should not value their time and their expertise properly. you have to remember that most people on reddit are earning peanuts and lie about the salary. just look at the international teachers sub if you want to see a group of absolute retards. people there count 10 million death payout on insurance as part of their salary.
Supply and Demand, but it’s definitely taking a huge dip recently. Schools are starting to realize skin color has nothing with the quality of teaching 
.
At present, it should not be that high, as far as Shanghai is concerned.