According to a survey by international moving company UniGroup Relocation, twice as many expats moved out of China than to China in 2014.
Pollution, expiration of work contracts and food safety were given as reasons for the mass exodus of expats, while China’s economic slowdown coupled with rising costs of living were also cited as major contributing factors.
People from the US are still the largest expat community in China, but the number of people moving to China from the States has decreased by 22 percent from the previous year.
UniGroup’s data mainly affects high level executives and middle-aged people, as well as families as it was based on people who use their services. Younger workers are still making the leap and moving to China although they are much less likely to use expensive moving services and thus don’t show up in the company’s stats.
Source: Wall St Journal
Warning：The use of any news and articles published on eChinacities.com without written permission from eChinacities.com constitutes copyright infringement, and legal action can be taken.
Keywords: Wall St Journal Expats leaving China
All comments are subject to moderation by eChinacities.com staff. Because we wish to encourage healthy and productive dialogue we ask that all comments remain polite, free of profanity or name calling, and relevant to the original post and subsequent discussion. Comments will not be deleted because of the viewpoints they express, only if the mode of expression itself is inappropriate.
Please login to add a comment. Click here to login immediately.
Why would anyone with a stable job, a mortgage and a couple kids in school in the West want to move to China? Who cares if they get a pollution allowance, an international school for their kids and a villa in Beijing? It really doesn't make sense for mid-career professionals with good jobs in their home countries to uproot their lives and their children's lives to come to China. They and their families still breathe the air, eat the food and deal with the traffic. They will still get cat called and their families will be objectified and singled out for looking non-Chinese. It's just not worth it. But young people with a few loose screws in the head like me still come to China.
Feb 12, 2015 15:43 Report Abuse
Sign up with
Google
(
(