Not quite such an overt one, at least. 
A better the devil you know approach. Sage advice.
Thanks for the feedback and comments. Itâs nice to get some ideas although to be honest we plan to leave next year (unless the global situation completely tanks), that is the easiest and best option. I work in a technical area and my salary is completely maxed out and no further opportunities here for me either (8 years hit a brick wall). I have also run a couple of businesses here and the general business environment did not help at all and I wonât bother trying again. I know the best earner would be to open something like that (drink stand etc) but thatâs hardly a career or suitable for lots of people either (running own business- need to be tough, head for figures, capital, stressful etc).
The idea about working for foreign owned business? Let me first say I appreciate the suggestion but what foreign owned business? Contact my chamber of commerce (haha that is one Taiwanese woman in an office in Taipei WTC 
). There are few in Taiwan and fewer that are expanding⌠It doesnât automatically follow foreigners are less misogynist or pay more to the locals either of course! As far as I know a lot (not all of course) of the foreign owned companies have cut back benefits to equal local conditions and focus on contract hires only now.
The situation for married women in particular has got worse because the government introduced a law guaranteeing maternal leave benefits, however there is no interview anti-discrimination laws in Taiwan so the opportunities for married women have actually gotten worse now. Basically theyâve made an ass of everything. Thatâs on top of all the other negative trends in the job market here.
The other depressing thing is the way Taiwanese treat other Taiwanese, I donât think it would go down to well in an interview if the interviewer directly said to a worker applying for a job in Ford in the US that we can hire a worker in China for so much (at least not in the interview or people would be up in arms!).
The bosses use the middle management to screw the general staff, especially the women, married women and âstrawberry generationâ. The middle management go along because they know they wont find a job so easy again with good salary and bonuses and thatâs the compact they agree to until they retire.
The âstrawberry generationâ are another maligned group because of their disinterest in politics and jumping between jobs, yet they are the ones that are getting screwed with average wages taken into account inflation at perhaps half of their parents. Is it no wonder they donât want to stay in dead end low paid jobs.
My advice to my wife in the end is to take a job that isnât too stressful and that maybe she could learn something from, the money is secondary as luckily we donât need the money that much and the difference between a relatively relaxed job and super-stressful job is only 5,000-10,000 NTD/mth! She is tough in interviews, no problem to outline what she can do and totally knows the game they play, itâs just that the work situation is really bad at the moment.
Finally worldwide there is a jobs recession coming and Iâm not anti-Taiwan by any means, itâs just the gut cringing process local people have to go through to get a half decent job here is absolutely depressing. Thereâs really little debate in the media about these things. I understand Chinese quite well and the TVs stations ignore the situation completely as they are owned by large corporations, KMT and rich families. I think itâs heading to the point where wages will equal big cities in China quite soon. Am I being too pessimistic?
(Almas John, donât be so hard on yourself, itâs not easy sometimes especially as one of the few foreigners out in the boonducks, Iâve been reading your posts for years here, keep it up!)
OP, why donât you get your wife to volunteer at your chamber of commerce. You say you donât need the dough. Sheâs local, so no volunteering problem. Sheâll be the first to know of job leads. For that gem, you owe me dinner at Carnegieâs. And since I donât drink booze, Iâll drag Sandman and AJ in to run up the tab. Itâs one thing to drink single malt at home, but quite another to sit outside at Câs and be seen.
The situation is just as bad from the other side of the interview desk. I have been offering over $100k/month base pay for an international sales position and come up with precisely zero suitable candidates over the past 6 months. The available staff pool is drier than a camelâs arse right now.
Itâs a vicious cycle - the reason why I havenât seen a single competent applicant is because theyâve all pissed off to Europe. Many of the office workers still here just seem to be looking for the easiest job around $30-50k that will give them as much MSN time as possible before the company folds and they move on to their next target - nothing too low paid or too demanding, thanks. What a disaster.
It sounds hard to believe that nobody is jumping at 100K base salary for sales.
I know a couple of Taiwanese people here in international sales and they both make well under that⌠at least as a base salary. What exactly are your needs? Send me a pm if youâd like.
Oh, little do you knowâŚ