40% Decrease in Foreigners Working in Beijing Since 2014

In late October, a report released by the Beijing International Talent Exchange Association estimated that there are now approximately 22,000 foreigners living and working long-term in Beijing – a 40% decrease from the 37,000 reported to have worked in the Chinese capital a decade ago.

Although there was no exact data provided for the last few years, the report did state that there has been a steady decrease in the number of expats accepting long-term positions, and foreigners now account for just 0.2% of the city’s workforce. 

In addition, there has been a shift in the countries of origin of foreigner workers following the pandemic – the percentage of Europeans and Americans has dropped from 16% to 12% since 2019, while the number of Africans is up from 26% to 31%.

Starting in 2012, China began to ramp up their efforts to attract skilled workers from overseas. The government has taken measures to ease the visa and residence application procedures and expand their immigration services for foreign professionals, as well as increase their funding to research institutions.

Despite these steps, the mass exodus of expats during and after the pandemic, as well as rising geopolitical tensions and the current economic slump have resulted in fewer foreigners holding long-term jobs across the country.

The number of foreign students from certain countries has also drastically decreased in the last decade – the number of Americans studying in China has declined by as much as 98%.

However, that does not mean that all of China’s efforts to bring in foreign talent have failed – there has been an increase in the percentage of expats that hold tier-A working visas and advanced academic degrees.

For those of us who have spent the last decade in China, the changes in the expat community are starkly apparent, but Beijing is still a vibrant and fascinating place to live and work – so hopefully this trend will soon come to an end.

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[Cover photo via Ai]