Chapter 12 2. White-collar workers are called "white-collar workers"

What kind of people can be called "white-collar workers"?According to American standards, white-collar workers refer to those who earn $80,000 a year and engage in purely mental work. But in China, which is developing rapidly, the term has changed again.The so-called "white-collar workers" mean that today they paid their salaries, paid rent, utilities, and gas bills, bought oil, rice, and instant noodles, touched the remaining money in their pockets, and exclaimed: Alas!This month's salary is white-collar again! ——A netizen explained his white-collar status in this way.The fact is, in recent years, the halo over the heads of white-collar workers has gradually receded.

Especially in expensive Shanghai.For the "white-collar workers", Shanghai is like a vampire. After opening the bottle cap of their life, they insert a straw and drink up the "youth, enthusiasm and hope" in the bottle - a third of which is used to feed One-third of the current self is saved to support the future self, and the other third is used to support "others". The so-called "others" include restaurant owners, KTV operators, clothing store girls, and airlines and travel agencies... The first batch of Mr. and Ms. Office in Shanghai appeared in the mid-1980s.

In August 1984, Shanghai Foreign Service Corporation was established. It was the only municipal state-owned enterprise approved by the Shanghai Municipal People's Government to send personnel to foreign institutions in Shanghai.Since then, there have been smooth and formal channels for foreign companies to employ local employees in their agencies stationed in Shanghai. In May 1985, Lianyi Building, the first foreign-related high-end office building in Shanghai, opened for sale.This is the first all-glass curtain wall building in Shanghai, which made Shanghainese who had not seen much of the world at that time "snap their eyes" (in Shanghai dialect, it generally refers to good-looking, and it also means to shine).The men and women in and out are all in suits and shoes, so decent that some college students who graduated in the 1980s still say: "My dream at that time was to work in the Union Building."

However, according to a survey conducted in 2005 by Carey Career Consulting Group on white-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen with an average monthly income of 15,000 to 20,000 yuan, aged 23 to 38, and belonging to different industries Shown: Working as a white-collar worker in a high-end office building in Shanghai may have a higher degree of material satisfaction than other cities, but the lowest sense of happiness. 53% of white-collar workers in Shanghai have bought luxury goods, mainly in the age group of 23-30; in Beijing, 45%, mainly in the age group of 28-35; in Guangzhou, 37%, mainly in the age group of 25-32 In Shenzhen, it is 28%, and the age group is mainly 27-35 years old.

White-collar workers in Shanghai mainly spend on luxury goods, such as high-end clothing, furniture and antique collections.Bian Bingbin, Chief Career Consultant of Kerui, analyzed that the age group of 23-30 years old is the lowest among the four places, which shows that mature white-collar workers in Shanghai are gradually becoming more rational about luxury consumption, but young high-income white-collar workers are mostly blindly obedient in the consumption of luxury goods. Why do young white-collar workers in Shanghai have such a mentality, and as they grow older, their purchase behavior of high-end consumer goods gradually decreases?Kerui's survey on the living conditions of job-hopping white-collar workers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou during the same period can give the answer.

The survey results show that: Regarding the current work situation, 78% of white-collar workers in Shanghai said they were under a lot of pressure, 53% in Beijing, and 47% in Guangzhou. According to the analysis, Shanghai is a "high-pressure place" where elites gather. The strong economic strength, rich information resources, and the status of an international metropolis make people feel the pressure involuntarily; secondly, Shanghai is a business society. One of its major features is the clear division of labor and attention to the perfection of details. Survival in this environment requires a great deal of stress resistance; thirdly, although Shanghai has an open mind and an open market, Shanghainese have a strong sense of xenophobia and love Comparing and looking at brands, as long as you don't pay attention to how you behave, you may cause strange eyes from people around you, which is evident in the pressure of survival.In addition, the material pressure brought on by Shanghai's consumption and employment environment is even more obvious.

Although the income and consumption of luxury goods are far ahead, in the comparison of the happiness of white-collar workers in the four places, the happiness of white-collar workers in Shanghai is the lowest.Career Career Consultants conducts a comprehensive survey based on the comparison of happiness indexes, such as friendship, health, money, career, time, etc. White-collar workers in Shanghai have the lowest happiness, while white-collar workers in Beijing have the highest happiness, followed by Guangzhou and Shenzhen. To put it bluntly, the pressure of white-collar workers in Shanghai comes from the pursuit of material things. This kind of pursuit is sometimes active, but most of them are passive. The cost of living in Shanghai is too expensive, and in this bustling metropolis, the gap between rich and poor It is extraordinarily bright and dazzling, others have it, why can't I have it?

"Jiefang Daily" published an article in 2009 investigating the living conditions of white-collar workers in the city.The article revealed that the proportion of housing expenses in the life of white-collar workers in Shanghai is relatively high in their total income, which brings pressure to most white-collar workers. Among the respondents, among the employees who earn less than 3,000 yuan per month, almost all of them have housing expenses below 10%. The following income cannot meet the needs of living.Among employees with an average monthly income of 3,000-5,000 yuan, 5,000-10,000 yuan, and 10,000-30,000 yuan, the proportion of housing expenses to income is 10%, 10%-30%, and 30%-50 respectively. % These three grades.

"In Shanghai, I can't afford a house, the work pressure is high, and the cost of living is high. Under such circumstances, it's better to go back!" This is the last post that the white-collar worker Xiao Xiao posted before leaving Shanghai.Xiao Yu has been working in a Japanese-funded enterprise since graduating from Shanghai University, and both her husband and her have a monthly income of more than 7,000 yuan after tax.However, such a pair of white-collar workers with impressive performance have recently considered "going overseas" - "following my husband back to Chongqing".Xiao Yu said that she and her husband both have good jobs. Not only are they well paid, but the company often plans to go to Japan for training. "If we have a house, life in Shanghai is actually very nourishing."

However, Yu Yu, who is over 30 years old this year, is pregnant, which makes her and her husband have to consider the issue of the house: "The two of us have more than enough savings to live on, but it is beyond our reach to buy a house." Yu Yu said that she and her husband a few years ago I thought about buying a house, but the housing price was already very high at that time. In desperation, my husband bought a small shop of less than 10 square meters near the Jiefangbei in his hometown in Chongqing. "At that time we wanted to invest in buying a shop first, and the rent could be saved to buy a house in Shanghai." However, after a few years, the rent earned by Xiao Xiao from renting out shops in Chongqing was far from being able to match the rise in prices in the Shanghai property market.The upcoming baby needs housing again, so Yu and her husband are considering going back to their hometown.

Because of his background in finance in Shanghai, Xiao’s husband got a job as an account manager in a foreign-funded company in Chongqing, with a monthly salary of 9,000 yuan.Xiao Yu said that when he came to Chongqing, "the money earned is not less than that in Shanghai, but the quality of life has improved significantly. Our current house is located in the center of Chongqing. Considering that the baby is about to be born, we just bought a car and live a good life." Very comfortable." In 2010, rents in Shanghai continued to rise amid frequent price jumps in the property market.The dream of young white-collar workers who want to settle in Shanghai is becoming increasingly fragile in the face of high rents. The pressure of survival brought by rents has made many white-collar workers lament. "I hope to have a place to stay in Shanghai. It doesn't need to face the sea, as long as I can let go of my dream of living in peace!" 27-year-old Tong Rui (pseudonym) sighed. Tong Rui said that although he is a foreigner, with hard work and hard work, he "smiled proudly" of the whole class with 6 offers alone when he graduated. Among the olive branches thrown by many companies, Tong Rui, who majored in advertising, finally won A large public relations company was used as the starting point of my career. At that time, the monthly salary given by this company was 5,000 yuan. "5,000 yuan is not a small amount. You must know that at that time, many students in our class were troubled by not being able to find a job, and most of them were paid around 3,000 to 4,000 yuan. Like me, I got 5,000 yuan in salary. The graduates are truly outstanding." With the joy of stepping into the society and the pride of getting a higher monthly salary, Tong Rui found a one-bedroom house for rent near West Nanjing Road where his company is located. "The rent at that time was 1,500 yuan, which I thought was absolutely affordable compared to my salary of 5,000 yuan." However, Tong Rui's dream didn't last long.After working officially, he discovered that after deducting taxes, pensions, provident funds and other expenses from the salary of 5,000 yuan, the real money he got was about 3,700 yuan. "My monthly rent is 1,500 yuan, and the water, electricity, coal and other expenses add up to about 200 to 300 yuan. In this way, the amount I can spend is less than 2,000 yuan." Tong Rui said that because he lives alone in Shanghai, even if he eats box lunches for three meals a day, he will spend at least 30 yuan a day, and the food cost for a month is at least 900 yuan. "Plus in my transportation costs, mobile phone bills, and the cost of outfits I have to spend to wear formal clothes to work, and I can only live on credit card overdrafts before the end of the month." The 44th chairman meeting of the 11th Shanghai CPPCC once released a survey report on the happiness index of Shanghai citizens.The results show that the overall happiness index of citizens is 69.16, and the overall level of the index is above the middle level; among them, nearly 50% of the respondents feel happy, and Shanghai citizens feel very happy, relatively happy, average, not very happy and very unhappy They are 6.7%, 41.7%, 43.2%, 6.8% and 1.6% respectively. Zhang Ling believes that there are only two reasons for such investigation results: one is fraud, and the other is that the results are true, but most of the surveyed objects are local residents of Shanghai, who have houses and household registrations. "If I had to choose, I would definitely choose 'not very happy'. I have been working for more than four years, and I don't even have a nest of my own. I eat box lunches outside every day. Can I be happy?" Zhang Ling is from Zhangjiang, Shanghai. A senior executive of a Taiwan-funded enterprise in the area, a native of Fujian, stayed in Shanghai after graduating from university, and currently lives in a white-collar apartment rented by the unit for their managers. Zhang Ling felt that Zhou Libo, who was the most popular in Shanghai, was right about one fact: people cannot be compared with snails.Snails are born carrying the house given by their parents.In Shanghai, white-collar workers without housing like Zhang Ling can't find a sense of belonging. "I don't feel like I'm a part of the city, just a passer-by." In addition to housing, food is also a big problem. At the intersection of Pudong Avenue and Fushan Road in Shanghai, a couple of migrant workers from Anhui took advantage of the night to launch a stall selling snacks.They don't have sanitation permits and business licenses, but they still do a good job because of the low prices.The people who come here to eat, besides some migrant workers like the stall owners, are also some well-dressed people who came out of nearby high-end office buildings. This is the "meal life" of Shanghai white-collar workers. This kind of life makes them quickly choose the latter between delicious and nutritious and cheap and fast. In September 2009, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine approved the construction of the main business district CBD in Shanghai (Huaihai Road, Xujiahui, Hongqiao, Nanjing West Road, People's Square, Zhongshan Park, Lujiazui, Railway Station, Yaohan, Wujiaochang, Hongkou, Jinqiao/Waigao Bridge, etc.) conducted continuous follow-up surveys on the lifestyles of nearly 30,000 white-collar workers, and released the "Investigation and Research Report on the Lifestyles of White-Collars in East China".Statistics show that white-collar workers in Shanghai spend an average of 18.92 yuan on lunch; white-collar workers in Hongqiao spend the most on lunch at 26.8 yuan per capita; white-collar workers in Lujiazui can spend the shortest meal time at 28 minutes per capita. When asked about the lunch situation, Ms. Jiang, who works for ING, joked that they had no choice but to "gobble it up". The financial crisis has had a profound impact on the white-collar workers in Lujiazui, which mainly focus on finance. Not only has the income of high-paid account managers dropped severely, but they are also facing the crisis of layoffs all the time.The original one- to one-and-a-half-hour leisurely time for eating out has also been voluntarily reduced to less than half an hour. According to the survey, the average lunch time for Lujiazui white-collar workers is less than 28 minutes. According to the survey data, Western-style fast food has become the first choice of white-collar workers in Lujiazui (33.8%) due to its convenience and instant eating. The number of people who eat out has dropped from 23.5% to 16.1%. For lunch, directly "satiate" with biscuits, bread and other snacks. For the white-collar workers who work on Huaihai Road, eating out is really wasteful. The simplest lunch box costs 16 yuan, 18 yuan, and some even 20 yuan, 25 yuan.Even so, more than half (57.7%) of Huaihai Road white-collar workers still have to choose to eat out.The reason is that the foreigner bosses feel that the smell of the food is easy to spread all over the office, and the employees are explicitly prohibited from bringing meals or ordering takeaway, and everyone is forced to "eat together". Ms. Li, who works in a foreign-funded unit in Hong Kong Plaza on Huaihai Road, is depressed because the company is located in a bustling area. It is inevitable to wait for the elevator and queue up for meals. It often takes more than half an hour to wait, so fruits and snacks have become a helpless choice. Ms. Bao, who works in the Chilean Commercial Office abroad, works in an office building in the Hongqiao area where foreigners gather. Although she earns more than 7,000 yuan a month, she still insists on bringing her "overnight meal".Because taking the most common Japanese and Korean restaurants in the Hongqiao area as an example, the cheapest lunch meal costs hundreds of dollars per capita.There are also many Taiwan-style and Hong Kong-style restaurants. A dish of "Honey Sauce Barbecue Rice" or "Honey Sauce Chicken Drumstick Rice" costs an average of 20-30 yuan.Although the company has meal stickers, it is far from enough to go out for AA meals. Ms. Bao said that most companies are equipped with tea rooms, and most of the colleagues around them bring their own lunch boxes. When they need it, they just put the bento in the microwave for a while, or simply bypass Donghua University and "cook a meal" in the university cafeteria every day.Compared with expensive fast food, home-cooked lunches and meals in college cafeterias are more economical. In Shanghai, there is another piece of white-collar spending called social costs, which basically accounts for 25%-30% of their monthly income.Especially young white-collar workers who have just entered the circle feel "involuntary" for expenses such as parties. Wang Xiaoliang (pseudonym) graduated from Shanghai International Studies University more than a year ago. Among his college students, many of them spent nearly 40% of their salary on social activities every month.Among them, the cost of dinner alone is around 1,000 yuan.Xiaoliang is now working in a foreign-funded communication company that is one of the world's top 500 companies. "Although I found a good job in a foreign company, I always felt that the money was not enough." It turned out that apart from basic food, housing, and transportation, his social expenses often made him unable to make ends meet. "I only go out to dinner with my friends a few times a month, and go out to clubs and sing songs with my colleagues, but all of them add up to 1,200-1,500 yuan, which is always more than the budget." It is understood that many new white-collar workers are very accustomed to the low-price consumption on university campuses in the past, and the sudden high consumption that is unique to white-collar workers caught them off guard. "I just joined the company, and my qualifications are relatively low. My colleagues suggested that I go to the bar for a drink at night, so I went with them. It's impossible to escape alone, right?" Wang Xiaoliang was a little helpless. When he met himself as the host to "open wine", a bottle was 1,000 yuan, plus other snacks and platters, the most expensive one cost him 1,600 yuan. Life, especially in a metropolis like Shanghai, is absolutely impossible without money.This is actually the root cause of the crazy work of white-collar workers. A netizen described the “white-collar workers” in Shanghai in this way—“working harder than a donkey, eating worse than a pig, getting up earlier than a chicken, getting off work later than a lady, pretending to be better than a grandson, earning more There are fewer migrant workers, and it looks better than anyone else, but in fact, it barely solves food and clothing." Even if the problems of basic necessities of life are solved, for the female white-collar workers in Shanghai, they still have to face another thorny problem: childbearing. "Morning News" reported in March 2009 that Wang Xiaoyun (pseudonym), a third-year female graduate student at a well-known university in Northeast Shanghai, had a difficult job-seeking experience. The social practice column in Wang Xiaoyun's resume is full, all kinds of certificates are complete, and her communication skills are also very good. In the eyes of ordinary people, it should not be difficult for her to find a job.However, Wang Xiaoyun still hasn't found his "employer". "Sometimes I meet face-to-face with the employer at the job fair, and I am obviously satisfied with my resume, but in the end there is still no follow-up." Once Wang Xiaoyun participated in a comprehensive job fair, and the employer directly returned her resume after reviewing her academic qualifications, so she asked for an "explanation" face to face, "The recruiter answered very directly, if If I’m a boy, I definitely want it, and undergraduates can also consider it, but female graduate students are old enough to have children soon after entering the unit, and the unit has to find someone to replace them. When I reinstate my job, I have to consider the arrangement of the extra person. I find it very troublesome." Although Wang Xiaoyun repeatedly stated that she had no plans to have children in the past two years, the other party still did not give her a chance for an interview. In the subsequent job hunting process, Wang Xiaoyun often hinted to the recruiter that he had no intention of getting married, "but it was useless. When the recruiter saw a female graduate student, he would naturally associate it with having a child. Later, when he met some companies It is said that their work is labor-intensive and they often have to work overtime, so they want to find male employees, but I can tell that I still feel that I am 26 years old this year, and I am about to get married and have children, so I can’t take on important jobs.” For this reason, Wang Xiaoyun is very happy. It was distressing, and she was even prepared to write a guarantee letter of "not having children within three years" if the unit accepted it. Wang Xiaoyun's troubles are also common problems faced by female master's and doctoral students who are currently looking for jobs.Xiao Shen, a female graduate student majoring in liberal arts in Fudan University, told the reporter that she also sent hundreds of resumes, but received only a few replies, and it has not yet been finalized. The problem, almost all the girls in our majors have encountered this problem. Some people even suggested that they should simply get married and have children after graduation, and then come out to find a job after these things are resolved.” And some recruiters from employers also said that companies must consider many aspects when recruiting, not only the current ability and status of employees, but also the sustainability after employment. "After all, the first three years of new employees are the time to work diligently. The senior girls are still young and can work wholeheartedly for a few years after joining the job, but the female postgraduates are already twenty-six or seven years old when they graduate, and it is time for childbirth. At the peak age, people can’t be restricted at that time, and they have to find someone to replace them, and they will be distracted by raising children within a few years after returning to work, and the concentration of work will be greatly reduced.” A small and medium-sized communication company The person in charge of the company said frankly that the unit will consider more carefully when recruiting female employees who are of childbearing age. Shen Weiyu, deputy director of the Employment Consultation Center of East China Normal University, said that it is indeed common for female postgraduates to encounter "childbirth" barriers in employment. "Many units will not make it clear, but they invisibly raise other thresholds when recruiting." To this end, a female college student answered one of the questions in a questionnaire that every applicant must fill out in a company: "Have you fallen in love?" She said: "My EQ is very low, and I have no feelings for boys. Therefore, I promise not to fall in love within five years; if I accidentally fall in love after five years, I promise not to marry within five years; if I have to get married after five years, Guaranteed not to have children within five years; after five years, if you accidentally have to have a child... that should be after the age of forty-five, you can consider firing me." In order to work and survive in Shanghai, female white-collar workers have said "not to have children within three years", or "not to fall in love within five years", which is actually a kind of helplessness, not willingness. According to the results of the "Special Survey on Childbearing Willingness of White-Collars in Shanghai" published on the official website of the Shanghai People's Government in 2008, white-collar workers in Shanghai have a strong desire to have children, with an average childbirth willingness of 1.7.This result undoubtedly subverted people's habitual thinking.The so-called "DINK" is actually not a voluntary choice of white-collar workers in Shanghai. Ms. Zhang, 30, works in a foreign company in Shanghai. She married Mr. Qiu, who is also an employee of a foreign company, three years ago.After marriage, the parents of both parties were looking forward to holding the baby one day sooner, but they waited and hoped for several years, but there was no movement. The young couple told their family bluntly: There is no plan within three years.When asked why, the answer was that "having a child now is not good for the career development of both parties": after having a child, Mr. Qiu, who is engaged in sales, could no longer travel frequently due to the burden of his family. It is possible to be taken away by others.Moreover, the repayment of the mortgage and the increase in expenses after the birth of the child will inevitably affect the quality of life; and Ms. Zhang will be able to survive to the position of administrative director in a few years. Having a child at this time will not only affect her financial income, but also her future career prospects. It will also face repositioning. Faced with high living costs, child support costs and employment pressure, having children is no longer a natural choice for white-collar families in Shanghai.Honey, shall we have a baby?Oh, this is not something you and I can decide. We need to calculate the cost first to see if the city of Shanghai allows people like us who do not earn much to enjoy the right to have children.