27000 Bhat

[keepwalking]

young thai person, living in lad prao bangkok - can they survive on such money, living alone, not going out so much but not living hand to mouth?

what do you think?

[colino]

oh yes a thai person can get a room for 3000 or less a month food 100 baht a day no problem leaves loads for clothes family etc etc , alot of thais working only get 6000-8000 a month

[jeebusjones]

27,000 baht is about three times the average Thai salary.

Edited May 22, 2007 by jeebusjones

[torito]

Sure you can, and even with a little less if you have to...

edit: sorry, I did not realise you are Thai!......you will know how to live with a third of it!!

Edited May 22, 2007 by torito

[dave111223]

My wife was making 17,000 per month (before we got married) and able to support herself completely (lived with 1 roommate though).

She was even able to save quite a bit.

(Her friends from university considered her quite lucky to be making such a large sum!)

[Jet Gorgon]

Lots of young kids made Bt3-5,000 on Samui a few years back. Then some stupid but well-intentioned farang started hiring bar/kitchen staff for $15,000 plus tips. Changed the dam micro-economy. Drove more than a few competitors out of biz and made the staff more transient than ever. I also remember one of the big hotels that divvied up the gratuities among all the staff; high season, everyone from chambermaids and desk clerks to gardeners and waiters would make an extra Bt40,000 a month or more (BTW, I heard even the maids had uni degrees).

Still, I know in resort areas, living prices are higher, too. Still, I could have lived on 27,000, but some extravagances are necessary, like wine and dog food.

[qwertz]

Missed you, Jet, welcome back.

[torito]

...Then some stupid but well-intentioned farang started hiring ......staff for $15,000 plus tips.

Gee Jet, I know I am well intentioned....but I feel pretty stupid now...always intending to change the micro-economy

[Tagaa]

My Thai girl friend, when I met her, made about 9000Bt per month as an office worker in a factory in BKK. She paid 1000Bt a month for a rented room, no A/C, with a typically small bathroom. I wouldn't have lived there, but my reality is/was different. She doesn't drink, no motorcy & always uses the bus. She had money in the bank.

Now she is always broke. Go figure?

[suegha]

A fanang would need that sort of money - or at least I do. However, I insist on eating out all the time and I do like to treat myself to a few expensive meals now and again. A farang friend of mine says he lives on half that but he never does anything extravagant.

[Jet Gorgon]

I've seen farang change many local economies. Laos is a good example with the ngos there.

You have to look at what you earn in the local economy if you have a biz there. It's all relative. Sure kids make more overseas, but costs, taxes and all else are much higher. How can you pay Thai staff three times the going rate because you think it's fair vis-a-vis your home country's rates? That's when all prices go up and it screws the local economy.

...Hi, Gwertz. Smiley from Jet.

[Heng]

It's all relative. And totally doable as long as you aren't miserable because you're too busy looking down on those making 2700 a month and/or envious/spiteful of those making 270,000 and 2,700,000 a month.

Mods, please add my post to the other 100+ "can you live on..." threads, ...a bit busy to do so myself today, I have to go monitor the installation of my Har-Tru court.

[DP25]

Not only is 27k a month enough for a young Thai person to survive on, it is enough money for them to go get drunk every single night of the week in Ratchada or RCA if they were so inclined and did not have to get up for work in the morning.

[Edonista]

Sure you can, and even with a little less if you have to...

edit: sorry, I did not realise you are Thai!......you will know how to live with a third of it!!

and if you are a burmese illegal immigrant, you will know how to live with a sixth of it.

[steveromagnino]

27,000 baht is about three times the average Thai salary.

actually, average household income in BKK from 3 years ago was 45,000b a month AFAIK.

But that said.....27k in BKK is a fairly respectable wage; I know plenty of staff that earn about that much; have a decent 2nd hand car, own a small apartment somewhere; depending on what it is the Thai person is doing this should be more than enough to survive.

I live in Lard Prao area; plenty of nice 1 bedroom apartments for 5-12k a month. Studios with air for less than 5k. Some even in brand new buildings. Skytrain + underground and buses, no problem.

[jeebusjones]

actually, average household income in BKK from 3 years ago was 45,000b a month AFAIK.

I don't want to hijack this thread, but do you have a source for that figure? Because this topic has been discussed in depth before, and I don't recall ever seeing a figure that high.

See thread:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...c=77206&hl=

and:

http://www.d-trac.org/en/average_thai_wages

Certainly, the managers are earning 50k++, but that's hardly "average."

Edited May 23, 2007 by jeebusjones

[DrFisher]

It's very easy to live on 27,000 per month especially if you have limited expenses. My expenses are only around 20,000 per month and that includes internet, UBC, rent, fuel for the car and food for 3 people. Granted we some times go out to a nice place to eat and we might spend 2,000 or 3,000 but not normally we can go to some nice places for 200 or 300 as well. I guess it's the old story you have the people here complaining that they can't live on 35,000 to 45,000 per month (to spite it is equal to or more than they made in their own country) but we all see them out every night having a party. I think you have to put things into prospective; do you live here or are you here working to extend your vacation?

[jeebusjones]

I've been unable to find any meaningful outside sources regarding Thai incomes. It is easy to find the per capita income, but it's always in PPP so not entirely accurate. I've been unable to find the median Thai income. So instead, I've done the following:

All figures take from CIA World Factbook

Thai GDP $196.6 Billion (Official Exchange Rate)

Population 65,000,000

People of working age (16-65) 70% of population = 45,500,000 people

Official Unemployment Rate 2% -- But, let's be safe and say 10%.

So, working people app. 40,950,000

This makes per capita income (for working people) $4,800 per year or 157,000 Baht (from xe.com). SO

13,000 Baht Per Month per capita (per worker).

When you take into account the <5% of the population who are incredibly wealthy, I would think that figure would drop to well under 10k per month.

Anyone care to disagree?

(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/th.html)

Edited May 23, 2007 by jeebusjones

[duke69]

No you cannot live with 27,000 baht a month....go to your employer and ask for at least double that amount....you deserve it as a Thai posting such a query

[patrickq]

27,000 baht is about three times the average Thai salary.

actually, average household income in BKK from 3 years ago was 45,000b a month AFAIK.

But average household income in BKK is a fairly meaningless figure. How many in the household are earning a wage? The only practical way to look at it is how much does a worker earn for the usual jobs, outside of Bangkok as well, not just in the city; working in the fields (150Bt per day?); building labour 150-250Bt per day?); TescoLotus (200Bt per day?); department stores (300Bt per day?). These are the kind of jobs most have to do and they work anything up to 30 days a month, so from what I have heard a month's wages can be less than 5,000BT. I've just plucked the figures from the recesses of my recent memory, so anyone know more accurately feel free to adjust.

It is foolish to pay a Western rate to a select few workers, it will disrupt the local economy and creates discord, suddenly everyone wants the same and prices escalate, but most locals are still stuck in the old economy. This is the classic problem with land prices, rich farang (and Thai) come flaunting their wealth and pay way over the odds for land, suddenly locals can no longer afford to buy in their home town. The same happens all over the world.

27,000 Baht is ample for a month, if you live more like a local Thai, it is when you want anything that the average farang pines for that the costs escalate and if you plan on going to bars in Patpong etc then forget it ... being celibate and teetotal is a good way to keep costs down

[DrFisher]

If we want to seriously talk about what Thais really earn, here in Chiang Mai the average person with a masters degree that can speak English (or another language) is making between 8,000 and 10,000 per month. The really average person (some university, high school or no school) earns between 3,000 and 5,000 per month. Graphs and charts always look good on paper but take a walk down the street and tell me what you see. It is no different here than it is in the USA where the average American makes $35,000 to $40,000 per year, I can tell you that figure is based on New York and California not the true "average" state. In Pennsylvania the average person makes $17,000 to $24,000 per year and can't afford to live in the town they were born in. An English teacher in Thailand makes more money than the average cashier in the USA after taxes. Does this sound more realistic?

Edited May 23, 2007 by DrFisher

[ozzydom]

Posters are supposing that "keepwalking" is a young Thai person,if he/she is such I am sure they would have a better idea of COL in Bangkok than we would.

My inclination is that "keepwalking " is a farang "shopping"

[think_too_mut]

Posters are supposing that "keepwalking" is a young Thai person,if he/she is such I am sure they would have a better idea of COL in Bangkok than we would.

My inclination is that "keepwalking " is a farang "shopping"

Or someone just about to start supporting tilac in BKK, asking how far the money he intend to spend can go.

[Rhys]

Let's see.. Forgot your location... your Thai.. Do you live in BKK? If you live in BKK... it will be fine.. Keep your wants in check.. Save a little for a rainy day.. 27K...your fine...

Live within your means...

Now if you are living outside of BKK.. This is a better salary..

Chees...

[kiakaha]

27,000 is more than adaquete for a young thai to keep up with all their hire-purchase payments on their materialisms to give them adaquete face amongst their peers.

[teacup]

Sure you can, and even with a little less if you have to...

edit: sorry, I did not realise you are Thai!......you will know how to live with a third of it!!

No...only his girlfriend is thai, and he's currently working in Japan (according to his previous post#1).

So I would assume that 27,000 bth/mo is for her living expense.

[Maigo6]

My Brother in Law is an architect/draftsman in Bangkok and gets about 30,000 Baht per month.

[Ijustwannateach]

I used to live comfortably (not luxuriously, but comfortably) in a large Thai-style aircon room just outside Bangkok on 22K net a month. Posted the details somewhere else, the last time one of these "how much do you need to live" threads came up. On that money, could afford reasonably priced daily life, normal dating (no dodgy types), one bottle of rum a month (I'm not a big drinker) and a nice day out in Bangkok every week, including nice farang food, massage, and even the odd luxury now and then (books are expensive).

By Thai standards, that's a life of luxury. But I had no insurance (I was lucky that year) and didn't even try to save any of that money.

(P.S. I now live in a well-appointed cardboard box in an alley, and so I'm able to save the difference. The mafia only charge me 100B in rent. Heng has offered me a crate, gratis, but I suspect he may later try to repossess.)

[steveromagnino]

actually, average household income in BKK from 3 years ago was 45,000b a month AFAIK.

I don't want to hijack this thread, but do you have a source for that figure? Because this topic has been discussed in depth before, and I don't recall ever seeing a figure that high.

See thread:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...c=77206&hl=

and:

http://www.d-trac.org/en/average_thai_wages

Certainly, the managers are earning 50k++, but that's hardly "average."

average = total sum of income in Bangkok / number of households = average.

Yes, the Lorenz curve or whatever method of wealth distribution means that average might not be the best measure as it gets skewed up from the few CEOs etc earning 1m baht a month. But that is why i said average and supplied average, I guess median individual income for women would be more useful, but I don't know what the answer to that might be.

BTW

http://web.nso.go.th/eng/pub/keystat/key03/Chapter7.xls

not the source i use, but a convenient source that isn't protected/restricted data and is online.

that shows greater Bangkok to be 28k a month back in 2002; for my job and most of my clients, they don't care about the surrounding areas (non, Samut Prakan, etc), they want the city itself. And the city itself, there is data somewhere from NESDB, is something like 45k; as i recall it is specifically based on residents of the city and excludes migrant workers such as taxi drivers etc and also (now this is really digging back as it is a while since I presented this number) included and estimate of the grey economy as well. The factory workers in the big estates who are all on like 5k-6k are mostly in the industrial areas. If you come to the area where my clients work, there is not a single staff member on less than 10k and that includes maids, messengers, etc. This is the minimum that people will work for when they have to come all the way to the heart of the city; speak a small amount of english, wear and wash uniforms, etc. Not everyone is suitable to work in these types of offices (a 100% Thai company in several cases incidentally) even for jobs like maid/security/messenger and those suitable can ask for and get more than the 3k that people might pay upcountry.

I didn't ask and can't really comment knowledgeably about Chiang mai; however the cost of my cousin studying in CM was far less than when he studied in BKK; everything in smaller cities is cheaper in part because not many people could afford things if it were expensive. And that is why the impact of foreign/outside money has a more profound effect in communities outside Bangkok such as Isaan or Chiang Rai; the gap between earnings from local work and earnings via someone from outside is far greater.

Yet again, I reiterate, if a family can get by with 45k (or 28k, 2002 data including the surrounding poorer industrial/semi rural belt), then 27k for a single person living in Lard Prao would be fine.

If this is a sponsorship situation, then it may be not enough for the person concerned as is 'usually the case?>??'

[lingling]

Anyone care to disagree?

Yes, you can not divide GDP by number of workers. Has nothing to do whatsoever with income.