Wendy Zhang/ Shanghai Daily news

Being a teacher has seen renewed popularity in the city's labor market, with a growing number of white-collar workers and university graduates willing to join the teaching profession, eastday.com reported today.
On Christmas Eve, a job market specifically for teachers in the Yangtze River Delta area was held at the Shanghai Everbright Convention & Exhibition Center, offering more than 3,000 jobs from 400-plus schools and attracting crowds of applicants.
Favoring Shanghai's economic environment, many teachers from the surrounding Yangtze River Delta region, and even the middle and western part of the country, expected to find a job in the city.
Since foreign-invested companies entered China 20 years ago, people's attitudes towards money, white-collar work and lifestyle have changed greatly: those working in foreign-invested companies or having their own businesses have high incomes but also less time for rest and are becoming jaded, said an industry analyst. With a stable salary plus bonus and other benefits, a teacher can earn as much as a white-collar employee, the analyst explained.
More university graduates from outside the usual disciplines for teachers are interested in becoming teachers, mainly those majoring in languages, maths, IT and marketing.
Teachers and experts in children's education are in great demand, as many young couples born in the late 1970s and now enjoying high incomes like to invest heavily in their children. With a shortage of experienced teachers, many local institutes have to recruit from overseas, the analyst pointed out.