---
title: "Ten years' experience, a quarter less: what our last three hires tell us."
description: "I interview a lot of candidates. This year the conversations changed: the people across the table are the ones who were let go, and they accept less."
image: https://asia-agent.com/hubfs/img-hires.png
---

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# Ten years' experience, a quarter less: what our last three hires tell us.

Eldad Shashua1 Nov 2026

![Ten years' experience, a quarter less: what our last three hires tell us.](https://asia-agent.com/hs-fs/hubfs/img-hires.png?width=1000&height=563&name=img-hires.png)

I interview a lot of candidates. This year the conversations changed.

The people across the table used to be the ones who had decided to move. This year they're the ones who were let go. They're good, experienced, steady people, and nearly all of them tell me the same thing: they can't find the next job, and they'll accept less than they used to earn.

I don't enjoy writing that sentence. These are people with families and mortgages, and none of them did anything wrong. But it's what we see, it changed what a good hire costs us, and it's worth explaining carefully.

## What we saw

|  | A year ago | Our last three hires |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Experience | usually 2 to 3 years | more than 10 years |
| Salary | about 10,000 | 7,000 to 8,000 |
| On top (social insurance and the rest) | about 4,000 | 2,500 to 4,000 |
| All in, per month | about 14,000, up to 20,000 for the good ones | 9,500 to 12,000 |
| Time to start | about 40 days | immediate, with several people to choose from |

(Yuan per month.)

That's 14% to 32% below the old 14,000, about a quarter on average, and roughly 40% to 50% below the 20,000 we used to pay for the best of the earlier hires.

Three hires isn't a statistic, and I'm not saying the market moved by a quarter. This is what happened to us.

The start dates make sense once you know the rule. A person who's employed generally has to give 30 days' written notice, so last year's 40 days was mostly notice. A person who has been let go can start the next morning.

## What I can and can't say about the market

Official unemployment is flat: 5.2% in September, the same average as last year. Pay raises are moderating, around 4%, not collapsing. And people have stopped moving: the job-hopping rate fell from 16.5% in 2023 to 14.8% in 2025.

Put those together and the experienced person you meet in an interview today is more likely there because they were let go than because they chose to leave. That's my reading, not a statistic.

What the national numbers don't show is experience getting a quarter cheaper everywhere. They show a cautious market where people value stability, and that's the part we were ready for.

## Why it fell our way: we do it by the book

Our policy since day one has been to do it by the book with our employees. A written contract. The real salary on the contract. Social insurance on that real salary, from the first day, probation included. Candidates tell us some employers do it differently. They put a low figure on the contract, say 3,000, and pay the rest in cash. The social insurance bill looks small, and it looks like a saving.

For the employee that can be a problem. Contributions are calculated on the declared figure, so the records can end up lower than the real pay. When a job ends, the paper is usually what gets looked at: the severance, the insurance record, the proof of income. A person with a clean record has an easier time with all three.

The law has also been moving against that shortcut. In 2025, China's Supreme People's Court confirmed that an agreement to waive social insurance is invalid. Law firms also point out that paying less than the full amount, based on actual wages, can lead to back payments, a late fee of 0.05% a day, and a worker who resigns and claims severance. One reported case from a provincial high court went that way.

So we benefit in two ways.

First, people who have lived with the other kind of employer know the difference. For a mature person choosing between a bigger number on a shaky arrangement and a smaller number from an employer who does it properly, the second looks better than it used to. Surveys of mid-career workers say the same thing: stability and an employer's reputation now count for more than a short-term pay gain.

Second, we have no catch-up bill. We were already paying the full cost.

## Probation, done properly

New hires start on probation. The law sets a floor for pay during it. As we understand it, that's 80% of the agreed salary, and never below the local minimum wage. Our practice is to pay 80%, and the additions are worked out on the lower figure.

Put together, for us the first months cost close to 30% less than the old 14,000. The full contract salary starts after probation.

What we don't do is delay the insurance. We enrol from the first day. Probation rules vary with the length of the contract, so check yours.

## What the law did, and what it didn't

The law didn't send us these people. The market did.

What the law did was change the edges. Insurance can't be traded for cash. When an employer ends a contract without the employee's fault, the law generally requires severance of one month's pay per year of service, and in many cases notice or a month's pay instead, so a company that lets a ten-year employee go is paying real money. And courts are looking harder at non-compete clauses, which can make experienced people easier to hire.

The honest line is this: the law helped at the edges, the market did the rest, and being straight with people counts for more than it did.

## If you're building a team in China

You can hire experience at a lower all-in cost than a year ago. You'll keep it only if you do it properly:

1. Put the real salary on a written contract, within the first month. A late contract carries penalties, including double pay for the delay.
2. Enrol the employee in social insurance within 30 days of hiring, on the real wage. Probation doesn't change that.
3. Check the probation rules for your contract: the pay floor (as we understand it, 80% of the agreed salary, never below the local minimum wage) and the longest probation allowed.
4. Be fair. A person who accepts less isn't asking to be squeezed. The ones who stay are the ones who felt the offer was straight.
5. Write down what you pay and why, so it holds up on any day somebody checks.

## Who does what

Your own employment counsel advises on the law. This is what we do and what we've read. It isn't legal advice, employment rules differ by city and change, and this was current in October 2026.

Check with a China employment lawyer or your employer-of-record provider before you hire. We build the team: the plan, the hiring, the training, the procedures and the legal frame with local counsel, working with any employer-of-record provider you choose. We don't give legal advice.

If you'd like to put a team in China, Vietnam or India, a 30-minute call is a good place to start. For one full-time person in China, Employee in China, from China Agent Ltd, is the simpler route.

Further reading: Expanding Your Manufacturing to Asia: A Step-by-Step Guide

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