The 20,000 RMB ceiling

[dorkboysayswhat]

I have this theory. Basically it's this: foreigners in China, excepting those with their own businesses, hired abroad for fairly difficult jobs at foreign firms, or who are just insanely good negotiators, will generally top out their earnings at 20,000 a month. Ask around - this seems to be the number above which people a) stop telling you their

Comments

[xulong]

$18/hr isn't bad. I make $3k a month after taxes and I can barely live within my means. thank god I'm getting a raise soon.

[dorkboysayswhat]

No, it's definitely not bad at all! It's not poverty wages by any stretch. I'm saying it *tops out* there, in my experience. $1-2k a month is a lot more common among the expats here, at least in Beijing. I average $3k because I have 5 different jobs in 3 different fields and work silly hours (and if I weren't workaholic I wouldn't be able to stand it). Other expats who meet that work pretty much the same way I do, either very hard for one company, or they stretch themselves out over a lot of different jobs.

In China, even at $1k, you can save half, even most of that if you're willing not to be profligate. "Making ends meet" here isn't that big of an issue. But if you're going for The Big Dirty, this may not be the place to do it unless you've got something up your sleeve. That's all I'm saying.