People may have different answers to the question. If you happen to do a job that needs communication in English, it is very useful. Some position can't be hold without English skills, including reading, writing and speaking.

But in China, I think in most cases it is true that people are learning English without having to use it. There are all sorts of English exams for Chinese to take and most people study for the sake of the paper test. I can't think of an occasion when government clerks in a remote and under-developed city like mine have to speak English. Are they supposed to show the way to a foreigner who may come someday in the future 10 years? But they have to pass English tests to make advance.

In my case, English can't really help me earn my bread. My job has nothing to do with English at all. I learn English only to enjoy the beauty of the language and enrich my mind.  I am just enchanted with English and that is the inexhaustible power to keep my attention on English.

I am telling the truth when I say I sometimes find it easier to express myself in English than in Chinese. This doesn't mean my English is better than my Chinese. Each language has its own advantage in certain situation.  I feel happy to find better expression to approach nearer to what's on my mind.

English is elegant with its letters, tight with its sentence structure and beautiful with its pronunciation. I can enjoy the sound of an English song without understanding it, but I can't bear a Japanese song when I don't know what it's about. Please don't get cross if you love Japanese. This is just my own feeling. No need to get angry and start guarding Japanese against me. 

I love to sing a lot of English songs, too.  My favorite songs include Casablanca, Take Me To Your Heart, Hotel California, Rhythm Of The Rain, etc.

So I think English is useful to me, in a different sense from the mainstream idea of usefulness.