Greater China’s young living paycheck to paycheck

Eric Hsu remembers a time when he was 10 days away from payday and had just $32 left. He had no savings.

“I used the remaining money I had to buy loaves of white bread and I ate that for all three meals until my pay came in,” he told CNBC Make It.

“Sometimes I would think, I am not earning little, I would actually think I’m earning an upper-middle income salary. But I still feel really poor every month.” 

Hsu belongs to a group of people in Taiwan, typically young and single workers, called the “yue guang zu” — the so-called “moonlight clan.”

The term describes being broke at the end of each month, or as Hsu describes it, “Money comes in from my left hand and out from the right.”

The term originated from Taiwan but is now also frequently used in mainland China and Hong Kong to describe the younger generation, said Chung Chi Nien, a chair professor from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. 

An estimated 40% of young singles who live in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen are living paycheck to paycheck, according to a local report. 

“This behavior is very different from their parents’, who literally saved every single cent they have. But the younger generation spends every single cent they have,” said Chung, who specializes in economic sociology. 

The rising cost of living has put more individuals at risk of being in the “moonlight clan,” especially those with low income, said Chung. 

While Taiwan’s inflation rate of 2.4% is much lower compared with many parts of the world, consumer prices and food costs are still on the rise. 

For 34-year-old A-Jin, fixed expenses like insurance, utilities and transportation already take up “more than half” of her salary of 30,000 New Taiwan dollars (about $985) a month, she told CNBC Make It. 

“I’d be left with NT$10,000 a month for food and other expenses. Eating out now costs around NT$300 a day. There is no way to save,” said A-Jin, who works in the service industry. 

“If an emergency happens to me, like a car accident — I would not have any cash to deal with it.”