§7 · 4 tips
If you lose your job, aren't paid your wages, or run out of money, what can you claim and where can you get help?
Tips from this section that apply in the United States.
People who took part in job-search coaching had 2.67 times the odds of finding a job compared with those who did not. What works is this: learn specific job-search techniques, explain yourself clearly, set a clear target, take the initiative, and ask people for help.
An employer cannot hold your ID card, collect a deposit, or collect money under any other name. If an agency did not get you a job, it must refund its fee. Training loans (培训贷), where you pay for training before you can start work, and pyramid schemes (传销), where payment depends on recruiting people, are both scams the authorities have named. For interest above 4 times the one-year LPR (loan prime rate), a court will not support the part above that, but you still repay the principal.
In 2025, food made up 29.3% of average per-person spending nationwide and housing 21.7%. Together they are over half, so cutting these two is the most effective. In the author's experience, a daily-rate room or hourly room, converted to a month, costs more than a shared room, and cooking yourself is cheaper than ordering delivery. When you look for work, ask whether food and housing are provided; a job that provides them wipes out these two big items.
The waiting area of an airport or train station can get you through a night, with toilets and power outlets, but there are no official data saying it is safe. A rescue station (救助站) has staff on duty 24 hours a day and will help you first even if you come at night. In winter some places also open temporary cold shelters. For people who don't want to enter a station, patrol staff will also give out food and cold-weather clothing.
