Legal Mirror: Beijing desperately seeking A-yis!

Legal Mirror’s weekly column ‘Checking Your Pockets’ provides interesting info about the average salaries of different industries in the Chinese capital. The pockets checked this week are those of the thousands of housekeepers, or A-yi (阿姨) or baomu (保姆), employed by thousands of households in Beijing.

According to Legal Mirror, there are three main categories of housekeepers: those employed by foreigners (涉外保姆), those with a major in domestic services (大学生家政员!), and the ordinary housekeepers (普通保姆). Sweeping up dust for a foreign laowai is the most profitable option, considering that this category of housekeepers can make RMB2,000/month (USD242/month), plus a few hundreds more on top of that for overtime. The housekeepers with an education in…uhh…housekeeping can make up to RMB1,500/month (USD180/month); whereas the ordinary housekeepers with no foreigners to work for and no related education make RMB600 to 700 a month (USD72).

Legal Mirror also points out that the offer cannot keep up with the increasing demand for these services. According to the data provided by local authorities, currently there are around 80 to 90 thousand ordinary housekeepers working for Beijing families; but the market would need at least 50 to 60 thousand more to keep up with the actual demand. The same applies to housekeepers with an education: apparently the market needs at least 20 to 30 thousand more of them!