As more foreigners are pushed by the economic downturn to come teach in China the laws of supply and demand are working against teachers, and employers are taking advantage of this. In the few short years I've been working in China I've seen salaries not increasing, but staying the same while working hours actually increased. Universities are asking for up to 20 hours a week when it used to be as low as 12. They are trying to find ways to cut out month's of pay and bonuses. Meanwhile the private schools are acting like sharks in a feeding frenzy.

Living in smaller cities I get to know most the foreigners who work there, and I've worked in 3 cities that had Aston schools in them. Over time I've heard lots of tales and mixed reviews, but now I'm seeing a disturbing trend from this major private school chain in China. They are REDUCING wages and paying LATER.

They used to pay on the 10th of the month for the prior month's work (in which case you must work for a month and 10 days before you get any pay). Now they've pushed back the pay date to the 15th of the month. Why? I work at a public school and am paid on the 10th of the month for the actual month I'm in, which is in ADVANCE of the work I'm doing. Private schools already make a gross parody of this system by paying the 10th of the following month, but now it's the 15th.

WORSE, Aston teachers used to get paid 100 yuan an hour for overtime hours, and this meant that during the "Summer Intensive" courses they'd teach on top of their regular schedules they'd also make 100 yuan an hour. Now, I've learned that Aston only offers 70 yuan per hour for Summer Intensive classes. That's a 30 yuan an hour cut! Ouch! Teachers will often teach around 20 hours of summer intensive for about a month. Now those teachers will lose about 2,500 yuan.

Aston teachers, I've heard, haven't received an increase in wages in 8 years. They get a measly 2 weeks of vacation a year (compared to months in public schools), and now they actually have to get less money, and get it later.

This is another sign that the opportunity of teaching in China, which used to be a decent job though low paying as compared to Korea or Japan or Taiwan, is now become a worse deal. Places like Thailand were great to teach in 20 years ago, but now they've gone way down because they've gotten too clever about how to exploit foreign teachers, and they have access to too many (even if it's not enough to fill all jobs, the ratio has still radically changed and teachers are in much less demand). That same is happening to China. It's going from OK to shit.

I figure, even though I'm already established here and have a very good job, there's only a few more years left before the public schools go the way of the private schools more than they already are, raise our hours, cut our vacations, charge us for utilities, you name it.

Aston English School shows a sign of the times. This is NOT a good time to come to China and work harder for less than all teachers who came before you.