Thailand Boosts National Minimum Wage for First Time Since 2013

[greenchair]

12 hours ago, selftaopath said:

How can a Thai/ family live on these wages?  

The same way as an American family live on food stamps in the freezing winter. 

[whatsupdoc]

9 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

Cheese is one example, but the veggies, breads, sauces...almost everything else is cheaper here.

 

Walk into a Subway in the States and 2 sandwich artists working...same here. Only in the States they work 8 hour shift. Here is the shift 8 hours? More likely 10-12. But even if 8...for the money, Thai labor WAY cheaper for same productivity. There is no comparison.

Not necessarily true. Those two workers the USA will very likely serve a lot more customers per hour than in Thailand and prepare far more sandwiches. That is what really determines the productivity.

Edited January 18, 2018 by whatsupdoc

[djayz]

13 hours ago, missoura said:

Before I found firm footing in life, I held numerous minimum wage jobs to get by. Every dollar counted and eventually life became more enjoyable. I didn't like some of the jobs but it was necessary to show up and work if I wanted to eat.

 

Here in Thailand, we often have general labor work that needs to be done. Trying to find someone to show up sober on a consistent basis to trim trees, mow grass, rake leaves, etc., can be difficult. For the last several years we have been paying B300 a day for these menial jobs. Mostly, it is the older married ladies that show up and work.

 

Many of the men in this rural area now want B400-450 per day for their labor. And apparently many of these young men are unable to work alone, as a friend or two is needed to help. They show up at 8:30 and then sit around until 9. They take an hour off for lunch and are ready to go home by 4. Between taking breaks and playing on their phones, not much work gets done.

 

I get blamed for this labor problem. My wife has always said that B300 was to much to begin with and that I don't understand Thais. I think she has a point...

 

 

That's why I believe that the majority of them (especially the men) aren't even worth 300 Baht a week, never mind a day. 

A lot of the work gets gone by the women. 

[Airbagwill]

14 hours ago, selftaopath said:

How can a Thai/ family live on these wages?  

You need to learn about Thailand.

[Airbagwill]

14 minutes ago, White Christmas13 said:

The average price of a hamburger in The USA is $7.00 in Thailand it is $2.00 

Not really...what you can do is check out the Big Mac index which gives a real comparison around the world based on the price of a big Mac.

 

http://www.economist.com/content/big-mac-index

 

Edited January 18, 2018 by Airbagwill

[theguyfromanotherforum]

8 minutes ago, White Christmas13 said:

The average price of a hamburger in The USA is $7.00 in Thailand it is $2.00 

 

Where can I get a burger for 2 bucks here?

 

 

[wakeupplease]

Try living on it first and stop moaning about having to pay the increase, but you will not, because that is why you are there. At that rate I would sit around or go else where. Cheap charlies.

[boomerangutang]

I've had workers for nearly 20 years.  All are hill tribers, and all the work is outdoors:  tree work, construction etc.  I've tried hiring Thais, but they're difficult because they don't want to do tough work (don't want to get their fingernails dirty or scuff their nice leather shoes).  I always pay about 100 baht above minimum.  Plus my workers get little perks like; free lunches, hand-me-down clothes, left-over building materials, firewood, etc.  All told, they probably get 500 to 600 baht/day, whereas a Thai or Chinese-Thai boss would pay them about half that much and treat them like minions. 

 

On the other side of the coin, I once brokered a two-house sale in Thailand.  The buyer was a farang, and the seller was a retired Ag.Dept Minister.  When it came time for the agree-upon commission payment, the esteemed government official stiffed me and my Thai partner out of 20% of our commission.   He did it with a smile.  My partner and I were sitting on a couch in a bank, watching the piles of paper money changing hands on the banker's desk.  The gov't minister stuffed his lucre into a valise, and while walking out of the bank, he handed us less than the amount we had agreed upon, prior.  He didn't even slow his stride, .....just zipped out of the bank.

[Orton Rd]

11 hours ago, gunderhill said:

100% the REALITY of trying to find rural workers  here, by me, men 500  a  day nothing less, got a  60 year  old woman now as caretaker 12k a  month although she originally said 9k then 10 then 12K however we  were stuck and had  no choice, she works  ok but is  no good  for any heavy work digging lifting stuff etc.

Many are  just plain bone idle.

We had a crew 3 years ago to work on our house, one left to watch Muay Thai on TV, one was drunk and asleep and when the mrs asked another if he was drunk he said of course, he could not work if not drunk. That left one half heatedly doing a bit of painting. They never did finish it.

Edited January 18, 2018 by Orton Rd

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and replies have been removed. 

[wakeupplease]

2 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

Not really...what you can do is check out the Big Mac index which gives a real comparison around the world based on the price of a big Mac.

 

http://www.economist.com/content/big-mac-index

 

Last time in BK a coffee cost me £2.30 and that was a couple of years ago. London 2018 same company £2.25 Um someone is missing something here and it is not me. Locals see this and want some action, so turn to corruption.

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

About time it went up, but isn't it time Thailand had an hourly rate for those on minimum pay?

[Bluespunk]

20 hours ago, selftaopath said:

How can a Thai/ family live on these wages?  

Badly. 

[Happyman58]

12 hours ago, kickstart said:

I live in a rural area ,but we have a lot of  industry  ,a steel mill  3 chicken processing factories,,a pig processing factory ,a factory making roofing sheets for houses, plus a big electronics ,and  clothing  factory , before they where 100% Thai employees , earning  the minimum wage ,plus over time.

When the last minimum wage was implemented  Cambodian workers started to work at the factories, now more and more workers are Cambodians,at the pig processing factory Cambodians do all the killing of   the pigs  ,and I am seeing more and more at our local imagration office ,plus more Burmese .

Why are they so many ,they are willing to work the long hours for the money , Thai's will not do the work. 

Companies are using the Cambodians  workers  too ,our electronic factory, has a habit of giving  long-term Thai workers voluntary  redundancy, friend of mine  worked there for 15 years , earning in a good month 18 000 baht, they offered her 100k  redundancy, which she took, they then got in some Cambodian's,and paid them  a lot less.

I can see our local companies employing fewer workers than before as has been said for every one farang worker, they are 2-3 Thai workers, and what few offices  I have seen working,thay all seem to be doing the same  repetitious work that holds true, companies will just make they existing workforce work harder, as it is the food processing factories workers work overtime almost every day.

This could lead to higher unemployment ?, companies not taking on new workers ,and I would say inflation would eat most of the pay rise, could end up being a double-edged sword for the government, the test of time will tell.

 

    

 

You are so correct? They can exploit these Cambodians and the gov knows that and can fix it but but we all know who owns the factories The elite who support the junta  So nothing will be done to upset the elite Thailand is returning to the way England was around the middle ages. Master- Serf They can fix this the gov can like they did in Australia where a company has to prove it needs imported labour because they cant get locals Others wise the government just refuses to grant these imported workers visas and if the company goes ahead and does it huge i mean huge fines  if they get caught. Talking million dollar fines

[Happyman58]

10 hours ago, djayz said:

That's why I believe that the majority of them (especially the men) aren't even worth 300 Baht a week, never mind a day. 

A lot of the work gets gone by the women. 

I will say this My wife is a very hard worker She is Thai I told her that many times You are rare amongst Thais because most of  them are so lazy So all good there But her problem is she has 2 daughters 17 and 20 and they would be the laziest 2 girls god ever put breath in I have seen some lazy people in this world and i thought wow can they get any lazier? These 2 girls just proved to me you can eg Get out of bed at 4 in afternoon and go have a shower The light switch is right on the wall They have to walk straight past it They turn it on when they go in to shower and when they come out just leave light on  Rubbish bin in kitchen has lid on it When they pick up the rubbish they leave (Which is rare) they are to lazy to lift the lid to put rubbish in bin They put it on top of the lid of bin So god help Thailand because this is the next generation that is supposed to be working and building the economy 

[chaihot]

22 hours ago, whatsupdoc said:

But the productivity of the workers is a lot lower in Thailand so for one worker needed in the USA you'll need several here. Plus Western food ingredients are more expensive here than in the USA (cheese is a good example).

Subway doesn't overstaff like HomePro.  They run very similar staffing levels to the USA.  Source?  My (Thai) wife spent one year working for Subway in Thailand.

 

Subway paid more than minimum wage, plus their government benefits (ie: social-security type payment).  They also adhered to all the "extra" payments officially on the Thai books since they are a FOREIGN owned company.

 

You mentioned "western food ingredients are more expensive".  Although I would agree that every franchisee must buy certain items (food items and paper goods) from corporate at a higher price, vegetables are sourced locally.

 

BUT! The point you are missing is that the amount of meat and toppings on a Thai Subway are 40-50% less than a USA based Subway shop.  Their actual manuals allow for less of everything.  That brings the costs of the sandwich down substantially.

 

When you add to that the labor -- Thailand Subway pays $15-20USD per day versus $80-96USD per day in the USA.

 

75% less labor cost

40-50% less food cost

And until recently, you couldn't refill your drinks.

 

Subway Thailand makes A LOT of money.

 

On another note, the same could be said for other "westernized" brands, such as Pizza Company.  We pay more for our meal at Pizza Company than we do at Pizza restaurants in the USA.

 

And who could forget Starbucks ...

 

I wish I could reduce my labor costs 75% and charge the same amounts.  My bottom line would look incredible.

Edited January 19, 2018 by chaihot

[anon537687643]

How the masses are suppressed! I see it with Thai friends who work with major retailers selling high end brand products costing tens of thousands of baht and paid 320 baht a day !


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[Srikcir]

On 1/18/2018 at 5:45 AM, webfact said:

"Wages have to rise with economic conditions -- the cost of living and economic growth in each province,"

Except when it comes to civil service workers.

Civil servants currently receive a 5 - 6% increase in their salaries each year, depending on their level of achievement. There is no government without government employees. Juntas know this and patronize government workers.

But best of luck to the unskilled and low-income workers whose influence lies only in their vote. A vote that hasn't counted for the last six years!

[whatsupdoc]

36 minutes ago, chaihot said:

Subway doesn't overstaff like HomePro.  They run very similar staffing levels to the USA.  Source?  My (Thai) wife spent one year working for Subway in Thailand.

 

Subway paid more than minimum wage, plus their government benefits (ie: social-security type payment).  They also adhered to all the "extra" payments officially on the Thai books since they are a FOREIGN owned company.

 

You mentioned "western food ingredients are more expensive".  Although I would agree that every franchisee must buy certain items (food items and paper goods) from corporate at a higher price, vegetables are sourced locally.

 

BUT! The point you are missing is that the amount of meat and toppings on a Thai Subway are 40-50% less than a USA based Subway shop.  Their actual manuals allow for less of everything.  That brings the costs of the sandwich down substantially.

 

When you add to that the labor -- Thailand Subway pays $15-20USD per day versus $80-96USD per day in the USA.

 

75% less labor cost

40-50% less food cost

And until recently, you couldn't refill your drinks.

 

Subway Thailand makes A LOT of money.

 

On another note, the same could be said for other "westernized" brands, such as Pizza Company.  We pay more for our meal at Pizza Company than we do at Pizza restaurants in the USA.

 

And who could forget Starbucks ...

 

I wish I could reduce my labor costs 75% and charge the same amounts.  My bottom line would look incredible.

Many Subways (and other Western restaurants) in Thailand opened and closed again. Clearly they did not make a lot of money (or at least the franchisees didn't).....

[Airbagwill]

13 hours ago, whatsupdoc said:

Not necessarily true. Those two workers the USA will very likely serve a lot more customers per hour than in Thailand and prepare far more sandwiches. That is what really determines the productivity.

Again you are making assumptions. I work in industry and the workers are obviously as productive but better value here which is why so many foreign companies are here

If you want to compare food try the McD index as it is thoroughly researched and compiled as opposed to what you "think" you see.

Thailand is changing from an agrarian society to and industrial one....sadly even the government are unsympathetic to this. 

It requires changes in deeply ingrained working practices....there is no comparison to labouring on farms in the tropics to working in a temperate climate. The physical demands even diet are completely different.

At present industry is subsidizing farming to a huge extent in that workers on or around minimum wage are financing or subsidising smallholdings all overtures Thailand.

Unless farms earn more they may largely go out of business by the next generation as their will be no workers willing to stay on the land for such a pittance.

[Airbagwill]

13 hours ago, whatsupdoc said:

Not necessarily true. Those two workers the USA will very likely serve a lot more customers per hour than in Thailand and prepare far more sandwiches. That is what really determines the productivity.

Again you are making assumptions. I work in industry and the workers are obviously as productive but better value here which is why so many foreign companies are here

If you want to compare food try the McD index as it is thoroughly researched and compiled as opposed to what you "think" you see.

Thailand is changing from an agrarian society to and industrial one....sadly even the government are unsympathetic to this. 

It requires changes in deeply ingrained working practices....there is no comparison to labouring on farms in the tropics to working in a temperate climate. The physical demands even diet are completely different.

At present industry is subsidizing farming to a huge extent in that workers on or around minimum wage are financing or subsidising smallholdings all overtures Thailand.

Unless farms earn more they may largely go out of business by the next generation as their will be no workers willing to stay on the land for such a pittance.

[Airbagwill]

14 minutes ago, whatsupdoc said:

Many Subways (and other Western restaurants) in Thailand opened and closed again. Clearly they did not make a lot of money (or at least the franchisees didn't).....

You need to look at the location of these places and their customer base.

Thailand has the third biggest rich/poor divided after India and Russia.....there are almost 2 separate economies.

Edited January 19, 2018 by Airbagwill

[kickstart]

7 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

Again you are making assumptions. I work in industry and the workers are obviously as productive but better value here which is why so many foreign companies are here

If you want to compare food try the McD index as it is thoroughly researched and compiled as opposed to what you "think" you see.

Thailand is changing from an agrarian society to and industrial one....sadly even the government are unsympathetic to this. 

It requires changes in deeply ingrained working practices....there is no comparison to labouring on farms in the tropics to working in a temperate climate. The physical demands even diet are completely different.

At present industry is subsidizing farming to a huge extent in that workers on or around minimum wage are financing or subsidising smallholdings all overtures Thailand.

Unless farms earn more they may largely go out of business by the next generation as their will be no workers willing to stay on the land for such a pittance.

As someone who is involved with farming in Thailand, and at a grassroots level ,I like to know were industry is subsidizing  farming  ,the CP's of this world  are interested in only cheap raw ingredients ,and will screw farmers  to get them, and a lot of raw ingredients  especially  for livestock feed are imported  , so nothing to do with Thai farming anyway , they tv adverts  may look good ,but  in reality the truth is opposite to the  adverts .

Now nearly all Thai farm produced products are at a low price ,sugar cane this year is 700 bart/ton, past 3 years 900 baht /ton plus, rubber ,fish, pigs ,beef all well down, now only rice farmers get any form of subsidies.

So, how can farmer earn more ,if the crops thay produce are sold at a low price , you are right working practatic are deeply ingrained,but a rice farmer can modenise ,by buying machiery ,but that machiery has to be paid for ,and  Thai farmers browing from  the farmers bank  is allmost at an  all time high ,so for  a small  grower ,it does not make econimical sence  to invest in  new machiery,most can not invest in more  land to make that machinery pay for its self .land to buy is very expencive, renting land ,cost of the rent takes away most of the profit  ,catch 22 , but with other crops they are some changes happening ,a lot for the better .but with low  prices expantion  is diffulcult  

The next generation all over the world are facing a problem of young people wanting to work in agriculture (in Japan the average farmer is 65 years old ),no one wants to ,it will be large company farms ,with  few workers ,all the work done from a tractor seat .

As long as they have been farm workers there wage has allways been at at the bottom of the wage scale ,and will be for the for seeable future. 

[Airbagwill]

17 hours ago, kickstart said:

As someone who is involved with farming in Thailand, and at a grassroots level ,I like to know were industry is subsidizing  farming  ,the CP's of this world  are interested in only cheap raw ingredients ,and will screw farmers  to get them, and a lot of raw ingredients  especially  for livestock feed are imported  , so nothing to do with Thai farming anyway , they tv adverts  may look good ,but  in reality the truth is opposite to the  adverts .

Now nearly all Thai farm produced products are at a low price ,sugar cane this year is 700 bart/ton, past 3 years 900 baht /ton plus, rubber ,fish, pigs ,beef all well down, now only rice farmers get any form of subsidies.

So, how can farmer earn more ,if the crops thay produce are sold at a low price , you are right working practatic are deeply ingrained,but a rice farmer can modenise ,by buying machiery ,but that machiery has to be paid for ,and  Thai farmers browing from  the farmers bank  is allmost at an  all time high ,so for  a small  grower ,it does not make econimical sence  to invest in  new machiery,most can not invest in more  land to make that machinery pay for its self .land to buy is very expencive, renting land ,cost of the rent takes away most of the profit  ,catch 22 , but with other crops they are some changes happening ,a lot for the better .but with low  prices expantion  is diffulcult  

The next generation all over the world are facing a problem of young people wanting to work in agriculture (in Japan the average farmer is 65 years old ),no one wants to ,it will be large company farms ,with  few workers ,all the work done from a tractor seat .

As long as they have been farm workers there wage has allways been at at the bottom of the wage scale ,and will be for the for seeable future. 

Sadly you don't understand my post. You've just gone off on a rant about how you personally assess the status of farming around the world. I'm talking about the very real situation in Thailand. It is however a worldwide problem that the deep conconservatism of farmers prevents them from understanding their own position.

If you read my post again I state quite clearly (except for predictive typo) how Thai farming is ssubsidised by industry.

In fact your post doesn't address a single thing I posted. It is unfotunate you apparently don't realise this.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Airbagwill