The economy is fine over here, guys!

Go East, young man!

That is a cry that I have heard before, and that I continue to shout out.

For foreigners working in Beijing, the wages are still plenty high, and the job openings are still far higher than the number of candidates (and WAY higher than the number of qualified candidates, but that is whole other issue). A couple times a month I tend to get an email or a text message from some lady who put me on her list of foreigners. These always contain jobs which I know I could easily get if I just showed up and didn't act like an idiot. In fact, anyone who is a native English speaker (or who can pass for one) and is able to conduct themselves even vaguely professionally should be able to do these jobs. Having some kind of a teaching certification helps, but it is by no means necessary (I don't have one). Being white also is a benefit. I know non-white foreigners who work as English teachers, but there is a good deal of discrimination against people with black or brown skin, and especially against people with an Asian appearance. The way I see it, I am effectively turning down job offers. This is an email I got last week (I didn't edit it at all), and it is pretty representative of the kind of thing I am sent regularly:

Hello,

Here is some jobs details.If you need more information please let me know.

1.Full time teaching job at Beigao in Shunyi.The kids are about 2 to 4 yrs old.We need a female teacher who got experience in taking care of the little kids.The teaching hours now is not too many.It's about 10 hrs but will pay you the full time salary.Working time at the beginning will be by days on some weekdays.

They can pay 10,000 or more(depends on the teacher) plus some benefits.

2.Full time job in Tongzhou.The working time is from 8am to 3pm.It has lunch break.The working days are from Monday to Friday.They pay about 10,000 or more plus some benefits too.

3.An 8 yrs old girl's lived in Austrialia for a long time.They prefer the teacher from england.Also the teacher can talk with the girl about some daily life english.The working time will be on the whole saturday or Sunday.She lives by western 2nd ring road.Pay 150 per hour.

4.Full time job in Huilongguan by line 13.Working time is from 9am to 2:30pm from Monday to Friday.The students are aobut 4.5 to 6 yrs old.Pay about 11,000 including bonus,airplane tikets,insurance and accommodations.

5.Sub teacher for 2 weeks in Wangjing.Every Mon,Wed and Fri from 10am to 12am.The kids are about 5 yrs old.Pay 150 per hour.

If you got any friends who're interested in it please contact me.We're going to pay you the fee for introduction.

Best,

Jade

This isn't something that I am doing to make myself highly marketable or anything. That is the market here. People here are DESPERATE for English teachers; for their young children to get them ahead in life, for themselves for corporate promotions, and for high schools and universities because English is a required subject in the national curriculum. I gotta tell you guys: if you are having trouble finding work in the U.S., come over to Beijing and I will help you get settled in and find a job. One friend who I know from college (and potentially two more) are already making plans to come here to work. Wages are plenty (especially considering the cost of living), and enough can easily be made to pay off college debt (as long as your monthly payments are less than $750 a month you can handle it). [EDIT: If you have to pay off $750/month, you can afford it, but your lifestyle will definitely have to involve a lot more frugality and cutting corners] Aside from basic wages from a full-time job, you can easily get more money by teaching private classes on the side. There is high demand for foreigners to teach preschool classes on weekends as well as private one-on-one tutoring, which tends to pay upwards of 120元 ($20/hour). You don't even have to speak Chinese to live here!

 You don't have to come to China though! You could go South too! Economic growth in Latin America has recovered quickly, and economic growth is making Africa a land of opportunity. Indeed, I get the impression that the globe has basically recovered from the economic crises... except for North American and Europe. If you get out of the developed, industrialized, advanced OECD countries, things suddenly brighten up. The rest of the world still has so much growing to do that despite being a catastrophe for many individuals in the U.S. and western Europe, the global financial crisis didn't set the global south back nearly as much, and things are looking back on track already in many countries. So good, that

 "...growth in developing countries is estimated to reach 6.1 percent in 2010, 5.9 percent in 2011, and 6.1 percent in 2012, while growth in high-income countries is estimated at 2.3 percent, 2.4 percent, and 2.6 percent respectively. This trend would mean the collective size of developing-country economies would surpass that of developed-country economies in 2015."

According to a paper published by the Brazil Institute, Brazilian exports are "projected to reach the pre-financial crisis high mark of $180 billion by the end of 2010." The global economic crisis had a relatively "muted" effect on India, according to the U.S. government, while Asia and Africa are the only two regions where GDP rose during 2009's global recession.

Reading a little about this stuff really makes me feel that I turned an eye to the world outside of the U.S. at the right time. I am vaguely planning on staying outside of the U.S. for the next several years anyway, and although I will make a stop in Europe, it is mostly the developing parts of the world that interest me more.