The sad state of Thai labour in the countryside

[bodga]

So  have had my land now for 8  years, staff were easy to find way back then, generally  Burmese, Thais dont want to do  this work on the land.

Ive noticed in the last 4-5  years more and more fields are being abandoned become overgrown etc, and staff are  getting harder to find and are  more lazy.

It doesnt matter what you pay, it doesnt matter what you give them in extra benefits such as free  electric, water ,  motorbike,  house etc etc.

Wife has spoken to a few  more people round here with farms and they all say the same, no one wants to work  on the land, even though many have no  jobs  now they will  not work on the land.

It pains me to sell up but it is  what it is, Im looking forwards to  maybe getting a life back instead of the constant worry of staff leaving at the drop of a  hat or just sitting doing very  little.

So here is the warning for  those thinking of  getting some land and growing anything, forget it, no one wants to work on the land anymore.

[seajae]

you are spot on, getting workers to do anything on the land is near impossible even when paying them double or more for 6 hours easy  work. 

[Chris.B]

Where in Thailand is this?

[quake]

44 minutes ago, bodga said:

So  have had my land now for 8  years, staff were easy to find way back then, generally  Burmese, Thais dont want to do  this work on the land.

Ive noticed in the last 4-5  years more and more fields are being abandoned become overgrown etc, and staff are  getting harder to find and are  more lazy.

It doesnt matter what you pay, it doesnt matter what you give them in extra benefits such as free  electric, water ,  motorbike,  house etc etc.

Wife has spoken to a few  more people round here with farms and they all say the same, no one wants to work  on the land, even though many have no  jobs  now they will  not work on the land.

It pains me to sell up but it is  what it is, Im looking forwards to  maybe getting a life back instead of the constant worry of staff leaving at the drop of a  hat or just sitting doing very  little.

So here is the warning for  those thinking of  getting some land and growing anything, forget it, no one wants to work on the land anymore.

you should able to just grow for yourself to eat. 

 

[KC 71]

Blimey !

[Scouse123]

No.

They all want to work in Global or Homepro so they can sit on their asses all day taking selfies and playing Facebook.

 

If they have no work, they are not embarrassed just to beg people and the famous " borrow but get angry if people ask for it back " routine.

 

Just <deleted>, many of whom don't even finish high school.

[bodga]

1 hour ago, Chris.B said:

Where in Thailand is this?

Prachuap Khirikhan, many abandoned  fields  now.

[bodga]

52 minutes ago, quake said:

you should able to just grow for yourself to eat. 

 

Well even just to take care of the garden area they arent interested in, garden is 1  acre  2.5  rai and is  low maintenance, everything on sprinklers, Fruit is 12  rai, we  may  just abandon growing the fruit completely, even when they get  offered 40%  of any profits they dont want it.

The main problem is they  just up an leave,  no warning often leaving us in a  real mess, have to cancel appointments even flights  sometimes.

Ive had enough of the attitude and lack of work ethic Ill sell get a condo by the sea and have a less stressful  life without having to think about staff beacsue no matter what you offer or  how  kind you are its  not appreciated.

I let the last  lot even use my pick up once every few  weeks, then they started using it weekly  then daily.........theyre all take take  take.

[JWRC]

The OP is spot on and I raised this in another post quite recently when they were talking about people who had lost their jobs due to Covid and didn't have money to feed themselves. For 20 years I have had a gardener , in the early days usually Thai, in more recent years from Myanmar. I have found that I cannot even get Myanmar now, they don't really want to work. I also had a man to cut feed for my goat herd, usually about 2 hours a day and no-one on his back. Apart from decent wages, free housing, water and electricity I haven't

 been able to find anyone that can work or indeed wants to work, they all want to get paid however. My beautiful garden is overgrown and I have just sold the herd of 70 goats, I am too old now to do it all myself.

So as the OP says if you have dreams of getting a bit of land and having a go at something, think long and hard first and decide if you can see to it all yourself when you can't find anyone to employ, or anyone who can work.

[bodga]

Just now, JWRC said:

The OP is spot on and I raised this in another post quite recently when they were talking about people who had lost their jobs due to Covid and didn't have money to feed themselves. For 20 years I have had a gardener , in the early days usually Thai, in more recent years from Myanmar. I have found that I cannot even get Myanmar now, they don't really want to work. I also had a man to cut feed for my goat herd, usually about 2 hours a day and no-one on his back. Apart from decent wages, free housing, water and electricity I haven't

 been able to find anyone that can work or indeed wants to work, they all want to get paid however. My beautiful garden is overgrown and I have just sold the herd of 70 goats, I am too old now to do it all myself.

So as the OP says if you have dreams of getting a bit of land and having a go at something, think long and hard first and decide if you can see to it all yourself when you can't find anyone to employ, or anyone who can work.

Burmese  now all want factory jobs WITH  overtime. Its  a  real shame  but this is the modern world and like the industrial revolution in the Uk where they left the fields and went to the factories.

[FritsSikkink]

59 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

No.

They all want to work in Global or Homepro so they can sit on their asses all day taking selfies and playing Facebook.

 

If they have no work, they are not embarrassed just to beg people and the famous " borrow but get angry if people ask for it back " routine.

 

Just <deleted>, many of whom don't even finish high school.

Many don't finish primary school

[FritsSikkink]

8 minutes ago, bodga said:

Burmese  now all want factory jobs WITH  overtime. Its  a  real shame  but this is the modern world and like the industrial revolution in the Uk where they left the fields and went to the factories.

That is a disgrace, wanting to get overtime, they should work till the master says so. (sarcasm for the people who don't get it). They want money in their hand, not a room you picked or be able to use somebodies motorcycle.

Edited November 21, 2020 by FritsSikkink

[bodga]

3 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Many don't finish primary school

Many dont even start it

[quake]

16 minutes ago, bodga said:

Well even just to take care of the garden area they arent interested in, garden is 1  acre  2.5  rai and is  low maintenance, everything on sprinklers, Fruit is 12  rai, we  may  just abandon growing the fruit completely, even when they get  offered 40%  of any profits they dont want it.

The main problem is they  just up an leave,  no warning often leaving us in a  real mess, have to cancel appointments even flights  sometimes.

Ive had enough of the attitude and lack of work ethic Ill sell get a condo by the sea and have a less stressful  life without having to think about staff beacsue no matter what you offer or  how  kind you are its  not appreciated.

I let the last  lot even use my pick up once every few  weeks, then they started using it weekly  then daily.........theyre all take take  take.

that's a shame, i don't blame in that case.

[bodga]

11 minutes ago, JWRC said:

The OP is spot on and I raised this in another post quite recently when they were talking about people who had lost their jobs due to Covid and didn't have money to feed themselves. For 20 years I have had a gardener , in the early days usually Thai, in more recent years from Myanmar. I have found that I cannot even get Myanmar now, they don't really want to work. I also had a man to cut feed for my goat herd, usually about 2 hours a day and no-one on his back. Apart from decent wages, free housing, water and electricity I haven't

 been able to find anyone that can work or indeed wants to work, they all want to get paid however. My beautiful garden is overgrown and I have just sold the herd of 70 goats, I am too old now to do it all myself.

So as the OP says if you have dreams of getting a bit of land and having a go at something, think long and hard first and decide if you can see to it all yourself when you can't find anyone to employ, or anyone who can work. 

Whats decent wages?  8 years  ago it was 250 a  day,  now its 500 + benefits minimum, they have no outgoings living here can even grow there own food but dont instead they go out and buy it and fancy drinks with ice etc, and many  even struggle on that want paying daily in some  cases,  just bad management,  a  lad who worked for us  sometime ago is the only one who didnt want money each day and had savings.

Currently paying one lad Burmese 13k going up to 15 k if he stays in the next few  months, started at 12k inc house motorbike, electric  water, fish, rice etc

[Kwasaki]

Most our farm work and apartment maintenance is done by women,.

There's only two guys we can get to do labour work on the farm as long as they are not drunk as a sack.

They have signed up to the 800 baht a month they from the govt as not able to work.

That gets em drunk then when that's spent they will ask about to do some labour work.

That's how it looks to me, many men don't do anything the wife provides.

[bodga]

Just now, Kwasaki said:

Most our farm work and apartment maintenance is done by women,.

There's only two guys we can get to do labour work on the farm as long as they are not drunk as a sack.

They have signed up to the 800 baht a month they from the govt as not able to work.

That gets em drunk then when that's spent they will ask about to do some labour work.

That's how it looks to me, many men don't do anything the wife provides.

Id  employ women if  I could find any, cant understand why no one wants a  long term job with a decent  employer and can more or less please themselves whats done as long as it gets done.,no future  no hope for them it  seems no savings nothing in most cases............often arrive with just a few  clothes and a battered  old  bike.

[BangkokReady]

15 minutes ago, bodga said:

Its a real shame but this is the modern world and like the industrial revolution in the Uk where they left the fields and went to the factories.

It's fine to wish for that, but you can't just strain and wish then develop magically into a different stage of economic development.

 

Thailand are still very much at the bottom of the ladder.

[CorpusChristie]

4 minutes ago, bodga said:

Id  employ women if  I could find any, cant understand why no one wants a  long term job with a decent  employer and can more or less please themselves whats done as long as it gets done.,no future  no hope for them it  seems no savings nothing in most cases............often arrive with just a few  clothes and a battered  old  bike.

 

  Some Thais only think about the present , not the future or the past, its what they are taught in Buddhism .

  If they have got 500 Baht in their pocket, they are rich and theres no need to work 

[bodga]

17 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

 

  Some Thais only think about the present , not the future or the past, its what they are taught in Buddhism .

  If they have got 500 Baht in their pocket, they are rich and theres no need to work 

yep thats  just about it for  many of them. Tomorrow isnt there.

[Dumbastheycome]

There is no doubt that it has got more difficult to find casual labor despite the supposed economic squeeze  and proliferation of unemployed. In fact this year it has  been near impossible. That includes those who in past years would have been willing.

Those that have begun leaving land un-utilized  can be understood to a degree. Small holdings are now largely unprofitable even at subsistence level because apart from incurred costs drought has so often  destroyed the attempt plus populist  Government subsidies and schemes paid to individuals sufficiently  provide for a family collective in many instances negating need  for any initiative.

Banks are likely to be overflowing with land deeds accepted  for loans never  serviced.

 

 

[bodga]

38 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

That is a disgrace, wanting to get overtime, they should work till the master says so. (sarcasm for the people who don't get it). They want money in their hand, not a room you picked or be able to use somebodies motorcycle.

They want  money but  not the work on the land even when they have no  job.

[Yellowtail]

Yes, it's shocking that people do not want to work hard outside in the hot sun when they can earn the same money somewhere else. 

[bodga]

1 minute ago, Dumbastheycome said:

There is no doubt that it has got more difficult to find casual labor despite the supposed economic squeeze  and proliferation of unemployed. In fact this year it has  been near impossible. That includes those who in past years would have been willing.

Those that have begun leaving land un-utilized  can be understood to a degree. Small holdings are now largely unprofitable even at subsistence level because apart from incurred costs drought has so often  destroyed the attempt plus populist  Government subsidies and schemes paid to individuals sufficiently  provide for a family collective in many instances negating need  for any initiative.

Banks are likely to be overflowing with land deeds accepted  for loans never  serviced.

 

 

also there is  the falling prices of almost every fruit and  rubber. With the odd  blip for Durian

[bodga]

Just now, Yellowtail said:

Yes, it's shocking that people do not want to work hard outside in the hot sun when they can earn the same money somewhere else. 

But thats it.............now they cant many are out of work and would rather do nothing.

[bodga]

1 minute ago, Yellowtail said:

work hard

its  often NOT hard but for me its  boring/repetitive however many of them dont seem bothered by that type  of  work, not  only that we  tell them they can start early say 6-7 and finish at 11 then restart at 3  avoiding  the main hot  time.

[Yellowtail]

1 minute ago, bodga said:

They want  money but  not the work on the land even when they have no  job.

 

When people can get money without working, why would they work?

 

The days of feeling shame for taking public assistance are long gone.

[bodga]

7 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

 

When people can get money without working, why would they work?

 

The days of feeling shame for taking public assistance are long gone.

yeah that 800  baht is  really  going to sort  them, they have no  pride in themselves and ability to support themselves.

[Yellowtail]

1 minute ago, bodga said:

its  often NOT hard but for me its  boring/repetitive however many of them dont seem bothered by that type  of  work, not  only that we  tell them they can start early say 6-7 and finish at 11 then restart at 3  avoiding  the main hot  time.

 

Standing in the sun is pretty unpleasant. Factory work generally pays better and is more pleasant.

 

What's minimum wage now, 330? That's 10K a month plus allowances, any overtime and bonuses.

[bodga]

3 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

 

Standing in the sun is pretty unpleasant. Factory work generally pays better and is more pleasant.

 

What's minimum wage now, 330? That's 10K a month plus allowances, any overtime and bonuses.

Im paying 500  a  day and thats going up to over 600 a  day if the  current worker stays , and the work does  not involve standing in the sun EVERY  day, apart from  maybe monthly tending to the crop for 3  days most of the time its watering trees which involves opening a  tap and standing there for 4  minutes whilst the sprinklers do their job, under the trees   there's  no sun.

Edited November 21, 2020 by bodga