Good news on the jobs front: wealthy Chinese need butlers

AS UNEMPLOYMENT in Britain reaches a 17-year high, could donning white gloves and tails to play Jeeves in China be the answer for at least some of these seeking a job?
 
The English butler is in demand by super-rich Chinese clients as wealth shifts from West to East, according to a report published in China Daily. Partly as a result, the Guild of Professional English Butlers has trained 20 per cent more people this year than last.

Inquiries have flooded in from Chinese clients who are "sitting on piles of money", says Robert Ewatson, head of the guild. "They are discovering that if you spend $8 million on a villa with marble flooring, you need someone to come along who knows what they are doing," he says.

Candidates must be adept at polishing silver, serving food and "second guessing" what an employer wants. Six-week training courses can cost up to £12,000 but a Bloomberg report reveals that butlers placed with the wealthiest families can earn up to £150,000.
 
The agency Greycoat Placements, based in London, has about 20,000 people on its books today, three times more than in 2008, with demand being driven in part by a growing number of Chinese clients needing butlers in their second homes in London.

Europe might be mired in a debt crisis, says the Global Post, but there’s a growing global demand for "proper" English butlers.

Adam Taylor at the American website Business Insider describes it as the one European profession wanted in China. "Yep, it sounds anachronistic," he says, "but the ancient profession is growing fast, thanks in part to demand from overseas." ·