Typical thai incomes

[jeab1980]

It all depends on Hiso or the rest? Even then do you want whats declared or what actualy is made.

Labour is up our way 350bht a day in the rice fields with dinner thrown in. 400bht for  a wall builder no dinner thrown in lol.

Someone known to me declared 3000bht a day add 4000 to that and it would be the minimum made. (No not a bar girl or in the sex trade.)

Only a HISO would dream of telling everyone who might listen how much they earn.

 

[kickstart]

Wifes granddaughter 19,and  boyfriend 20, work at our local  food processing factory, been they  for a few months  now ,she is doing  QC ,quality control ,he is  on a production  line ,thay are very happy taking home  20-22000 baht month between them ,but they work a 10 -12 hour day  ,have one day off a week ,when it is a monks day ,Wun-Prat ,in Thai  when the factory do not kill any pigs ,rent a house  with mum and step dad ,2000 baht month .

But , this is in a rural  area , with no temptations of the big city ,and a lot of the costs .

[bazza73]

Any attempt to find an "average" Thai wage is doomed to failure, because one can only derive a mean/average from normally distributed data. Thai wages are so skewed between a high income minority and a very low income majority "typical" depends on where you look.

[sunny17]

Ok fine - please tell me whats a decent livable salary in BANGKOK -

 

but from all the answers so far, I am guessing that 20k baht per month will enable one to "exist" and to "live" you need 30k or more

[bazza73]

1 minute ago, sunny17 said:

Ok fine - please tell me whats a decent livable salary in BANGKOK -

 

but from all the answers so far, I am guessing that 20k baht per month will enable one to "exist" and to "live" you need 30k or more

I wouldn't know - would not live in Bangkok if you paid me.

[Chou Anou]

29 minutes ago, sunny17 said:

Ok fine - please tell me whats a decent livable salary in BANGKOK -

 

but from all the answers so far, I am guessing that 20k baht per month will enable one to "exist" and to "live" you need 30k or more

A Thai living on 20k (or even 30k) a month and YOU doing so is most certainly NOT the same thing, especially if you don't speak near-fluent Thai.  I highly, highly, doubt you would be happy living as an "average" Thai person does (in terms of food, general comfort level, modes of transportation, level of health care, etc.), even if you did have the requisite cultural and linguistic skills.  Figures on paper are one thing, day-to-day reality is something altogether different.

Edited July 8, 2017 by Chou Anou

[sunny17]

36 minutes ago, Chou Anou said:

A Thai living on 20k (or even 30k) a month and YOU doing so is most certainly NOT the same thing, 

agreed. but i was not asking about myself. 

[james1995]

Can't be very high.  In developed countries, the avg. net wage is 80-100k a month.  I doubt it is even 15k monthly.

[oldcarguy]

living in BKK is expensive ,  much of it spent just getting to work ,  and most people are sending money back home ,

 

15-20k is good money ,  that is what my friend pays his office workers (BKK) who have  been there for year

 

living beyond your means is normal

 

 

[sunny17]

1 hour ago, oldcarguy said:

living in BKK is expensive ,  much of it spent just getting to work ,

 

What if someone worked from home and made 30k baht per month ?

[starky]

9 hours ago, fordguy61mi said:

It  depends on where you live and the cost of living there. A small rice village in Isaan will be different than Bangkok. My girl lives in Bangkok and is a waitress at an italian restaurant and makes about 17000 baht a month. It allows her to have a small room with no kitchen and no hot water. She does have A/C and an elevator. She eats mostly street food and doesn't have money to go out and socialize so she basically works 6 days a week and sleeps the rest of the time. She just exists, not really lives. She chooses to live in Bangkok so she doesn't complain. She also sends her mom in Udon Thani a little money every month. When she was looking for work the restaurants were all paying between 12000 and 20000 baht for wait service, with the average being about 15000.

Yeah that's right and she’s Thai and barely existing and ya got a falang who wants to do it on not much more. What a life!

[oldcarguy]

2 hours ago, sunny17 said:

What if someone worked from home and made 30k baht per month ?

many  thais  take a motocycle taxi from home to BTS  or the bus , then  from the BTS stop near work take another motorcycle taxi to work ,

repeat on the way home.......times 20-24 days a month work

 

plus even cheap eating at lunch 50 baht x 20 days , plus she is a girl  and needs to look good , so makeup, hair etc

 

30k a month for one person living like a Thai  is good money ,    hard to see how how a Thai girl  does that working from home.

 

 

 

 

[Gary A]

These days, farm labor is difficult to find. My wife is a farm girl. Her main crop is sugarcane. My wife is nearly 50 years old. I talked into selling her sugarcane standing. That way she doesn't have to cut it herself. The guy who bought her crop could not find enough cutters. My wife tried to find some help for him but few Thais want to work that hard. She ended up helping him herself. She was making about 500 to 600 baht a day. She was up at daylight and came limping home about dark. Cutting sugar cane is a tough way to make a living. Cutting cane is piece work, the more you are able to cut, the more money you make. I should add that most of the workers are women.

 

I have a Thai friend. He is about 30 years old and looks quite fit. He is always broke. I thought he may be willing to help cut but he looked at me like I was crazy. He said that was too hard.  It was easier for him to just live off his wife's small restaurant. His main profession was playing bass Guitar for a Thai band. They got booked maybe once a month.

[perthperson]

6 minutes ago, Gary A said:

I talked into selling her sugarcane standing. That way she doesn't have to cut it herself.

 

There are mechanical solutions --------------

 

 

[Gary A]

There are VERY few of the mechanical harvesters in this area. The few that there are won't even consider the small fields that the farmers in this area have. Even farmers with huge fields don't like to use mechanical machines. The machine itself and especially the heavy truck the runs beside it cause too much damage. 

[perthperson]

1 minute ago, Gary A said:

There are VERY few of the mechanical harvesters in this area. The few that there are won't even consider the small fields that the farmers in this area have. Even farmers with huge fields don't like to use mechanical machines. The machine itself and especially the heavy truck the runs beside it cause too much damage. 

Local choice !  

 

I wonder how Western farmers mitigate "damage" from mechanised harvesting ? 

 

Sooner (or probably later) Thais will have to adopt 'modern' farming techniques especially if  labourers become ever more difficult (or expensive) to employ 

[smutcakes]

On 7/8/2017 at 10:57 AM, theguyfromanotherforum said:

 

A well off Thai family will never live in a flat, let alone rent one at these outrageous amounts.

 

I know a thai who rents a penthouse in bkk for 350,000 per month. So you are wrong. More and more thais are renting in high end condos. They like to try living somewhere before buying. Very sensible.

[sunny17]

12 hours ago, oldcarguy said:

  hard to see how how a Thai girl  does that working from home.

 

 

 

 

What if she teaches (western) kids how to do their home work through one of the online teaching platforms?

[theguyfromanotherforum]

On 7/8/2017 at 10:45 PM, smutcakes said:

I know a thai who rents a penthouse in bkk for 350,000 per month. So you are wrong. More and more thais are renting in high end condos. They like to try living somewhere before buying. Very sensible.

 

So... you know one.

 

Bravo

[shady86]

All condos must be owned 51% by Thais so most living in Bangkok earn decent income.

[Craig krup]

My pal's wife was working in the oil and gas industry - living in Bangkok - until 2015, and they had a load of pool drivers who were on demand for the company's executives. The top driver - Mr Big Man, in charge of the rest - was getting 15,000 Baht a month. 

[kannot]

On 7/8/2017 at 10:42 PM, Gary A said:

These days, farm labor is difficult to find. My wife is a farm girl. Her main crop is sugarcane. My wife is nearly 50 years old. I talked into selling her sugarcane standing. That way she doesn't have to cut it herself. The guy who bought her crop could not find enough cutters. My wife tried to find some help for him but few Thais want to work that hard. She ended up helping him herself. She was making about 500 to 600 baht a day. She was up at daylight and came limping home about dark. Cutting sugar cane is a tough way to make a living. Cutting cane is piece work, the more you are able to cut, the more money you make. I should add that most of the workers are women.

 

I have a Thai friend. He is about 30 years old and looks quite fit. He is always broke. I thought he may be willing to help cut but he looked at me like I was crazy. He said that was too hard.  It was easier for him to just live off his wife's small restaurant. His main profession was playing bass Guitar for a Thai band. They got booked maybe once a month.

our  exact experience, many will not work doing this sort of thing even if they have no work. We pay 12500 month, free motorbike, free  fuel free  rice  free  house electric  and  water and generally speaking theyll also get 1-2-3 free cokes a  day also if im working with them .in fact generally I do work with them daily and I mean doing the  labouring  not just telling them to do whatever.....its been the only way to get things  done, although once all the construction stuff is  done the staffs   job  will be minimal.

[metisdead]

Offensive posts and inflammatory posts and replies have been removed.  

[smutcakes]

3 hours ago, theguyfromanotherforum said:

 

So... you know one.

 

Bravo

No, there are many and more and more. I do wonder how you get your knowledge on what wealthy Thais are doing, considering you self admit that you live with your low so gf, and she pays all your bills for you in her cheap house. How do you acquire so much knowledge of what wealthy Thais are and are not doing?

[kannot]

35 minutes ago, smutcakes said:

No, there are many and more and more. I do wonder how you get your knowledge on what wealthy Thais are doing, considering you self admit that you live with your low so gf, and she pays all your bills for you in her cheap house. How do you acquire so much knowledge of what wealthy Thais are and are not doing?

seems you fail to understand the wealthy to not so wealthy ratio in Thailand, the amount renting 300+k baht condos is miniscule

Edited July 10, 2017 by kannot

[smutcakes]

1 minute ago, kannot said:

seems you fail to understand the wealthy to not so wealthy ratio in Thailand

What? The poster stated that Thais would never pay high rentals. I know for a fact they do and more and more wealthy Thais are renting in high end condominiums, particularly if they are considering buying in them. 

 

I am not sure how your post relates to what I wrote?

[theguyfromanotherforum]

14 hours ago, smutcakes said:

No, there are many and more and more. I do wonder how you get your knowledge on what wealthy Thais are doing, considering you self admit that you live with your low so gf, and she pays all your bills for you in her cheap house. How do you acquire so much knowledge of what wealthy Thais are and are not doing?

 

My mid so (not really loso) wife is best friends with a very wealthy Thai woman. I am talking billions of baht. From what I gather, most people like that woman are actually not snobs like the wanna be hiso Thais as they are very worldly and came in contact with many people of different social statuses over the years. You would be extremely surprised how her parents made their money... but I can't say it and you probably wouldn't believe it.... as it is completely legal and honest. Of course, there is a small chance they could be reading this one day and I could come out like a complete loser thumping my chest on anonymous internet forum. Already I feel like a loser arguing about something that doesn't affect me at all.... but what a hell.....

 

Also, I dated an extremely hot somewhat upper class Thai in Canada. She was also a friend with a let's say very rich daughter who's parents owned a company with 2 letters. Their daughter did rent.... a room in Intercontinental Toronto.

 

So, I find a wealthy Thai paying 350k a month to rent a condo preposterous as they almost never rent in their own country.... but then again maybe they are also not very confident in the build quality of these condos, so I guess anything is possible.

 

It was just a comment from my point of view.

 

 

[ChidlomDweller]

3 hours ago, shady86 said:

All condos must be owned 51% by Thais so most living in Bangkok earn decent income.

The state of  the property market is a whole other topic, but I strongly suspect a lot of it is propped up by corrupt money.  Thailand has also among the highest household debt in the world, so there's that too.  Then there's all the unsold units sitting on the books of Thai real estate companies.  Real estate prices here make no sense if you compare them to average salaries.

 

As for the OP, 30k would be a typical salary for 30-year old university-educated office slave.  I wouldn't be happy on that lifestyle.  In fact, I'd rather live on 750 euros a month in my home country (Belgium).  At least in Europe, there's a lot of wealth in the public domain: beautiful cities, parks, libraries, cultural events,...  In Bangkok, all the good stuff (with a few exceptions like street food) costs money.  

 

No money, Bangkok is a right hellhole.  Why move to the other side of the world to stay home in a dingy 25m room with no money?  Might as well do that at home.  The obvious answer (women) may also not work out.  It'll be slim pickings once they find out your salary and lifestyle.

 

Also, once you build up a bit of a social life, you'll find it's very easy to burn through 1,000 Baht on a night out, even if you do it "student style".  

 

IMO: 30k per month = surviving, penniless student style

 

50-70k = can have some fun

 

100k = comfortable lifestyle if you don't spend big money on other things (expensive travel, car, expensive hobbies...)

Edited July 10, 2017 by ChidlomDweller

[kannot]

23 minutes ago, theguyfromanotherforum said:

 

My mid so (not really loso) wife is best friends with a very wealthy Thai woman. I am talking billions of baht. From what I gather, most people like that woman are actually not snobs like the wanna be hiso Thais as they are very worldly and came in contact with many people of different social statuses over the years. You would be extremely surprised how her parents made their money... but I can't say it and you probably wouldn't believe it.... as it is completely legal and honest. Of course, there is a small chance they could be reading this one day and I could come out like a complete loser thumping my chest on anonymous internet forum. Already I feel like a loser arguing about something that doesn't affect me at all.... but what a hell.....

 

Also, I dated an extremely hot somewhat upper class Thai in Canada. She was also a friend with a let's say very rich daughter who's parents owned a company with 2 letters. Their daughter did rent.... a room in Intercontinental Toronto.

 

So, I find a wealthy Thai paying 350k a month to rent a condo preposterous as they almost never rent in their own country.... but then again maybe they are also not very confident in the build quality of these condos, so I guess anything is possible.

 

It was just a comment from my point of view.

 

 

Exactly what Ive found, Thais ive met with money never really show it and have been extremely  kind and interested in someone from another country, theyve tended for me to be more elderly 50+ but great to chat with.

[kannot]

59 minutes ago, smutcakes said:

What? The poster stated that Thais would never pay high rentals. I know for a fact they do and more and more wealthy Thais are renting in high end condominiums, particularly if they are considering buying in them. 

 

I am not sure how your post relates to what I wrote?

there are MANY more Thais who rent for  10k than the "odd" few renting at 350k, you seem to  imply that there are vast hordes of them doing this and many more coming? Its going to be  less than 1% Id  guess.