Recent Employment Market
Employment in Developing Countries
Chinese enterprises that go deep into these developing countries always need Chinese nationals to oversee operations—you'd be one of them. So you have two choices. The first is to earn some money and return home to live. In that case, you have little advantage; at best, you'll get a bit of an overseas allowance compared to your peers back home, but you'll still have to face China's high housing prices. The second option is to simply put down roots locally, enjoy their low cost of living, and draw a high salary from China. Over there, you'll be living like royalty.
Employment in the Domestic Market
If you come from a well-off family, you rely on your family's connections and wealth. If you don't, you rely on your talent. That's the white-collar track.
The white-collar track is now oversaturated. Anyone with family resources hopes their child becomes a white-collar worker, so supply far exceeds demand. Your competitors may have parents with strong connections, have been heavily packaged and polished, hold impressive degrees, and have families that buy them houses and cars—or maybe even tipped off their future boss.
If you have advantages, go ahead and compete fiercely. But if you feel you have nothing—no family background, no impressive credentials—then consider whether you have strong hands-on skills.
Because all young people are flocking to the white-collar rat race, the blue-collar track is relatively undersupplied.
This doesn't mean working in a factory, which is competing against industrial robots, or delivering packages, which is competing against algorithms. What you want to do is non-standardized blue-collar work.
Things like repairing air conditioners, applying grout sealant, tinting windows, plumbing and electrical work, unclogging pipes—and other trades that require you to show up on-site, assess the situation, develop solutions, and solve problems one by one.
Developed countries aren't that different from China—people compete just as hard. The only difference is that incomes are relatively higher, but lifestyle isn't vastly different, and from an infrastructure and amenities perspective, you might not even be as well-off as in China.