The Science Academy, like other state-owned research institutions, had the most challenging phase at the 'Assistant Researcher' level, but once promoted to associate researcher, things became much more stable.
The salary for an associate researcher was also quite average, not even reaching one hundred thousand yuan a year, but like civil servants at the local level, the benefit of being in the system was job stability.
Beyond that, the benefits were good.
Daily necessities provided on regular days, gifts given during holidays, were just one type of benefit, but the most important were the five insurances and one fund, which were not only paid according to the salary standard but also the housing fund contributions were surprisingly high, some higher than the salary itself.