What Is The Average Thai Wage ? And Could You Survive ?

[xyborg]

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Yes but what line of business is it that the 10 Thais are earning? maybe they are the equivalent of brain surgeons for all we know? I could ask 10 stockbrokers what they earn but it wouldnt be reflective of an average wage. In the UK the average is about £22-4k I think.

<br /><br />Trust me, they are not brain surgeons <img src="style_emoticons/default/cool.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="cool.gif" /> <br /><br />But they are hard working, fairly well educated (which only mattered when they got hired), with 10 or more experience in a booming field. We struggle to keep them as there is a huge war going in our industry for people like that. If they were in the UK, they would be well above the average as well, as there is the same problem with people that is going on in Thailand. <br /><br />This is the problem when discussing salary in Thailand on this, and most other forums, many of the members, even those that live here, have little experience with Thai middle class. Now granted, most of that middle class lives in Bangkok or the Eastern Seaboard so those expats living upcountry would not see them much and those on Sukhimvit will not see them either, except in the Malls where they mistake them for BG's.<br />The classic comment is the one that said all those Thais in Paragon much be spending farang money since as far as he can see, i.e. the Thais he interacts with, don't have anything but farang money.<br />TH<br /><br />

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Yes but the point here is your co workers then are not your average Thai they are well educated hard workers in an "in demand industry" similar to oil or IT. So is 90000 an exteremly good salary then?

My reason for asking is I have some investment in Thailand which nets "us" 56000 per month which by investing more in this business I could increase to get to 90000. I am just not sure if this would be well above the Thai norm for Bkk or not. I think 56000 is pretty good but aint so sure?

[saraburioz]

id bet it is not the avg thai who shops at paragon.

got to be farang money being spent there.................lol.

I ate in the food court there while my wife spent 2 million on jewlery.

[calmichael]

FWIW - My TGF tell me that a rice field worker earns about 130B per day. The experienced ones make about 150B.

[jbowman1993]

Most factory workers expect an annual bonus of a minimum of 3 months' salary. So you must add at least 25% to the salary to arrive at a truer picture.

Then add in the value of free/subsidised food, uniform, housing etc.

3 months? Lol Not on your life. Must have been looking for the 1 and missed...

[blizzard]

sarab are you farang?

a high earning thai girl said thais(in general) dont shop at places like paragon, too expensive!

[PeaceBlondie]

I agree that the third group is very small. I didn't mention fisherman because I didn't even think of them (i'm from Bangkok so don't think outside of here

If you only live in one place that only has a mere 15% of the country, or 0.013%, it is easy to assume that the entire kingdom stretches from Sukumvit to Chinatown, and everybody rides the BTS and shops at certain luxury malls. Or, that they are all drunken Isaan men, or fishermen in Krabi. Thus it is no surprise we cannot agree on an average wage, or average family income, or average farang monthly income.

[RasiMike]

My wife has a small store here and earns around 9-11K per month. In all reality it covers utilities. food and other essentials with ease. All of our daily needs are met and then some. Holidays, kids playthings, car upkeep and maintenance, visas and travel (non essentials for the locals here) come from my income when required. My wife also sells ducks, pawpaws and bananas from our garden when we have extra. In the opinion of our relatives, friends and other associates (100% Thai) here in Issan - it is a very nice income. We are leaving Thailand very soon and there has been quite a lot of interest from people interested in taking over the business.

I know that the local hardware stores pay their staff from 3000 - 4000/mth. Food stall and shop assistants 100-120/day, machine shop assistants 130/day and we have paid labourers 150/day with meals and 'beverages' in the past. These wages are considered average Issan wages by all concerened.

Several of our family and friends work in Bangkok in clothing factories, kitchens etc. 4-5K seems to be the norm. An associate of mine in Bangkok pays his English speaking, university educated receptionists 5-6K.

I'm sure that there are many who earn more but the 'cogs' that keep the machine turning are earning a he_l of a lot less, whether it be in Issan or Issan people in Bangkok!

Mike

[thaihome]

If you only live in one place that only has a mere 15% of the country, or 0.013%, it is easy to assume that the entire kingdom stretches from Sukumvit to Chinatown, and everybody rides the BTS and shops at certain luxury malls. Or, that they are all drunken Isaan men, or fishermen in Krabi. Thus it is no surprise we cannot agree on an average wage, or average family income, or average farang monthly income.

Well put. Every farang in Thailand has their own version of what they think is "typical" Thailand.

TH

[Dakhar]

I agree and I think this is why some falangs living here believe Thailand is either absolute heaven or the absolute oposite.

If you are in Thailand with LOADS of money, and I do not mean a palrtry 200K baht, I mean around 1 miilion a month, and living on ocean front property, and having maidens washing their cars to clipping their toe nails... Yea life is great here.

For those that make less.... life is just life. I said it before and I will say it again it takes a lot to be rich here. A nice car, 2-3 times or more than the US, and nice home, and property, about the same as US prices...

I make a good sum, save about 60% of it, but even if I spent it, I could not have a nice car etc. I would just be fatter that is about it.

[Heng]

Do you know a reputable agency for maidens, Dak? BTW, I disagree with your 1,, per month figure. I think people can be quite comfortable and happy within the 750-850k a month range.

Edited January 31, 2008 by Heng

[Dakhar]

Do you know a reputable agency for maidens, Dak? BTW, I disagree with your 1,, per month figure. I think people can be quite comfortable and happy within the 750-850k a month range.

I said "around" 1million, I imagine 750-850K would do too. My vision of wealth is a nice boat, 30 footer, all the equipment needed for off shore fishing and the ability to afford the fuel. About 4 - 10 rai, and nice big house, and the maidens to boot.

A 5 series for the wife and an M6 for me.... that is starting to get to be wealthy. At least in my book.

[Savanna]

Geez I must say I am a bit shocked to hear that the salaries are so low... I am moving to Thailand in March, the house I am renting is 23 000baht/ month! By the sounds of things, IF I work I wont even be able to afford my rent??

Roughly converted, I currently earn 71 000baht a month now....

Edited January 31, 2008 by Savanna

[Dakhar]

At 71k don't expect bling bling. Expect hot water, electricity air conditioning, affordable transportation, taxis etc. Basically you can live high on the hog for Thai standards, but you will be living just about every day life standard from your home country... (I reckon)

Possibly some house maids etc. But when you see how things are done here, they are a needed. Things like washer machines, clothes dryeres, etc are an oddity. Full size refriderators are and oddity too.

Good luck to you....

[Savanna]

At 71k don't expect bling bling. Expect hot water, electricity air conditioning, affordable transportation, taxis etc. Basically you can live high on the hog for Thai standards, but you will be living just about every day life standard from your home country... (I reckon)

Possibly some house maids etc. But when you see how things are done here, they are a needed. Things like washer machines, clothes dryeres, etc are an oddity. Full size refriderators are and oddity too.

Good luck to you....

Looks like I am in for a rude awakening!

[lambous]

How much do air hostesses make?

[thaihome]

Just out of curiosity, I asked our finance dept to send me the craft payroll for one of our projects on the Eastern Seaboard. Through the miracle of Excel and it many functions I was able to quickly summarize the over 2,000 paycheck amounts into the following table. These are monthly salaries for a 48 hour week. Most worked over 60, the additional hours being double time or triple time if over 8 hours on Sunday.

Foreman 30,000

Skilled Craft 25,000

Other Skilled Labor 20,000

Semi-Skilled Labor 14,000

Unskilled Labor 10,000

One other interesting fact is we experience a turnover rate of almost 10% per month as the people chase the overtime, as construction workers do all over the world, at the 8 or so 200+ million projects, with over 2,000 worker on each, that are going on in the Eastern Seaboard area right now.

Tell your teenage nephews to go to vocational school and learn to be pipe welders.

TH

[pattyboy]

Interesting....

Secondly, a friends son (19) is working 12 hours shifts at the, soon to be opened, Lotus for 200 a session . He's allowed 2 x 15 minute breaks per session. His mum takes him food. He's now being asked to work 24 hour sessions, with 6 hours off in between, as they're behing schedule for the grand opening.

happy days ?

Funny, I've never noticed any of the staff at Lotus to actually do any work. Just kidding 555

In all seriousness, it must be difficult get out of bed knowing you're facing a 12-hour work day for a measly 200 baht. Isn't that below the minimum wage?

[Dakhar]

I said "around" 1million, I imagine 750-850K would do too. My vision of wealth is a nice boat, 30 footer, all the equipment needed for off shore fishing and the ability to afford the fuel. About 4 - 10 rai, and nice big house, and the maidens to boot.

A 5 series for the wife and an M6 for me.... that is starting to get to be wealthy. At least in my book.

Hey Dakhar, that does sound really nice. Don't forget the security guards because i'm sure there will be all types (Farang, Thai) that will be looking to roll you over and cash in. I'd hate that feeling of watching your back daily..

But ya, sounds real nice!

That brings up another problem.... apparently if you start to reach BLINGn satus, the Falang will get hacked down. What's the point of reaching for the ultimate if you can't do anything but use it to fold origami figures? Depressing.... guess I will alsways be stuck with the Honda Wave.

Edited February 1, 2008 by Dakhar