Even at 28k @ 80 hours you are still above UK minimum wage. Many other people in London survive on amounts well below that.
Even at 28k @ 80 hours you are still above UK minimum wage. Many other people in London survive on amounts well below that.
I'm sure you realize majority of Hong Kong people live with their parents until their late 20s/early 30s, or until they are married. In fact, many married couples still live with their parents. It's about comparing what is the norm in both cities. There are tons of local people in their early 30s who have worked for 10 years and have never in their lives paid a bill or paid rent. They easily get by on their pathetic salaries and have decent spending power as they have eliminated the biggest expenses westerners in that age bracket have (and tax is minimal). Kind of sad but that is the reality in this city.
I absolutely love this scene from the movie: Layer Cake.
Michael Gambon tells it how it is, when you're starting out as a young turk, you better smile after each spoonful .
A bit like the Italians then
BBC NEWS | Europe | Italians 'slow to leave the nest'
The problem is that in bigger countries, people do move around from city to city to find work. In Hong Kong you can still commute.
It is almost as sad as this story about Japan
Japanese men find love at first byte
Your friend should stop working for that company, unless it wants to pay him more money, more and more and more money. Of course, if he believes he has value in that corporation, demanding more money doesn't mean he is greedy, but it shows his real value to the company. What is the reason to work for a company which demands not only your body and mind, but also your soul ? That is evil ! Money is not evil ! Even if he knows the power of supply and demand rules, but at least he would have shown his objection.
"So you think that money is the root of all evil?" said Francisco d'Anconia. "Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?..." [quoted from Google]
Because if money is evil, then girls would be evil, which is of course not true!
well. In the west, the companies with the big names might tend to pay better. Here, it is (at junior level) rather the other way around - the more prestigious the company, the more job applications they get, and the less they have to pay. That said - 10K sounds really low. I know many locals who graduated this year and last year, and those working for 'brand names' (EY, UBS, Maersk, Jardine) are all in the 14-20K range. As many others have said - your friend might be better off finding a different job.
There's a big difference between "this year" and "last year". New graduates' salaries go up very fast in most environments. 50% per year is not unusual. I recall when I was a graduate my salary after 3 years was about 2.5 times my initial salary. The first year is when you prove yourself in the real world.