Trained nannies in short supply

Wang Yu, a recent graduate of Southeast University in Nanjing, has a routine many of her classmates would envy.

At 8 o'clock, she wakes up four-year-old Cindy and feeds her breakfast. She then drives the child to kindergarten, returns home, and does some light housekeeping before lunch and a nap.

In the afternoon, she takes a cooking class, shops for dinner, and prepares the evening meal. On weekends, she relaxes, goes shopping, and attends an advanced English class.

Best of all, Wang Yu gets paid for this. She is a nanny for an American family in Shanghai.

"Decent work, a good salary, and plenty of opportunities for self-improvement. For many students, being a nanny is an ideal job," says Wang.

And while the economic recession has hit the service industry hard, including domestic care, well-qualified nannies are always in demand.

"Although many of our foreign clients have tightened their belts during the economic crisis, they still require high-end home care services and are willing to pay handsome salaries for nannies," said Cong Shan, the general manager of a family care agency in Guangzhou.

"Most of them are senior people in multinational companies here, and it is hard for them to change their way of life. Having a nanny saves them time and enables them to spend more time at work," Cong said.

Despite the economic slowdown, Cong's agency has increased its client base from 200,000 to 300,000 in the past year. Yet the agency has trained only 300 new nannies, 90 percent of them with bachelor's degrees.

About 600 university students per month apply to Cong's agency for jobs as nannies for foreign families, but only 10 percent are selected for training. Several male applicants were among those selected; they were immediately hired by foreign families, at an average salary of $700 per month.

Several new schools and agencies have sprung up in recent years to train and place nannies. Candidates receive instruction in education, hygiene, housekeeping, and other skills, and may receive certification from a licensing agency.

Well-qualified nannies are in great demand in all of China's southern cities, including Guangzhou, Shanghai, Ningbo, and Hangzhou. At the end of 2007, there were 100,000 foreigners in Guangzhou and at most a few thousand nannies.

In Shanghai, there are reportedly 700,000 families seeking nannies and only 200,000 nannies. Well-qualified housekeepers are also in great demand. The shortage has been especially severe since 2003, when the Chinese government outlawed the introduction of nannies from the Philippines.

However, the number of agencies providing professional training remains small.

The Shanghai YASH Family Care Co., Ltd, which claims to be the first such agency in Shanghai, has turned out less than 100 qualified nannies in the past two years.

In Beijing, qualified nannies are in even shorter supply. According to the Beijing Home Marketing Service Association, none of its nanny agencies provide training. Several agencies have been unsuccessful, and many of the nannies they introduced to foreign families were not well received.

"Beijing nanny agencies lag behind those in Southern China in experience, training and management. The market is not well regulated, which leads many nannies with higher education to quit," said Li Fuzhi, an advisor to the housekeeping program at Beijing City University.

Wu Shuanghua, a 52-year-old nanny, has worked for three foreign families over the past 10 years and often refers nannies to other families.

Many nannies in Beijing feel that the nanny agencies are part of the problem. To apply for a nanny job, and an applicant has to pay $175 to an agency and $175 for training. If she is employed, the agency will take $29 from her salary (usually $292 per month) for the first three years.

To avoid these charges, many nannies post their resumes on bulletin boards in residential areas frequented by foreigners or seek introductions from other nannies.

(China Daily 03/09/2009 page6)