monthly salary for those of u workin in THAILAND..

[qwerty]

a sensitive and personal subject obvioussly,
so anonymous poll taking encouraged.

but just trying to get a sense of where we stand in terms of 'making a living' here.

i myself make a bit less for sure than i would back in my home of europe.

[Guest]

hey,

real salaries here are between 8.000 bahts and 20.000 bahts monthly after tax. Thai people are not getting paid more than 30.000 Bahts in the best of the cases and we are talking about people with uiniversity education.

For farangs depend on what they want to declare in thailand and how much they want to pay. I receive about 60.000 bahts plus extra benefits which I can not tell you for other reasons but anyone I think can have a decent life with something between 80.000 bahts and 120.000 bahts net a month.

NEw Religion

[Guest]

Actually I know several Thais that make more than 30,000. It is common now for salaries to be up and above that level. Then you have many that are business owners and they make tons of cash. I am a teacher and I make between 50-100k a month depending on how hard I want to work. Hourly rates are between 600-1200 for me. I also have some side business' that net between 20-100,000 a month. I live pretty well on that.

[Mr. GRUMPY (Grrr!)]

Thai people are not getting paid more than 30.000 Bahts in the best of the cases and...

Sorry - this is simply a load of rubbish. I don't know how on earth you managed to come up with this unless you are drunk or high.

Unskilled labour in Thailand varies from at worsk (and in extreme cases) 4,000 Baht to about 8,000 Baht. Graduates can expect to start off at about 12,000 Baht to 20,000 Baht. Experienced skilled works (engineers, secretaries etc can expect to make up to 50,000 Baht and managers, doctors and computer specialists can easily make a lot more.

I meet thousands of Thais on all levels every year and I know exactly how much they make and my figures are very close to the mark. And if you are not sure about how much Thai people are making just look at the amount of new cars on the roads and their monthly payments... thousands of middle management and executive level Thais are now making more and more cash as skilled reliable workers get scarcer and scarcer.

One of my recent contracts was for Reuters in Bangkok and non of these people (apart from the interns) make less than the supposed 30K which newreligeon would have you believe is the case. Another contract that recenly expired for me was for a pharmacutical company and their medical sales people make about between 60 and 80,000 a month with salary and bonuses.

As for farangs... Teachers make between 30,000 and 60,000 a month and if you are employed by a specialsit school from abroad you may make more. (Private lessons can also bump your pay.) More and more schools are hiring Philippinos to teach English because they will work for between 15k and 20k a month.

Lowly paid drunk farangs make between 250 Baht to 500 Baht per hour and good teachers and specialists can make up to 2,000 Baht per hour in extreme cases. (I know because I've been there.)

Farangs on corporate postings make the most money and their remuneration is of course what they would normally make at home.

As for what you can live on... this varies hugely on how you like to spend your money.

[Guest]

I had about 15 employees in Bangkok last year, in the technical field.

My secretary made 40K / month. My average engineer was getting $40-$80K USD / year, or about 120K-300K Baht/month.

I have a new employee coming in from Japan to be based in Thailand, a senior person, he'll get easily $250K USD / year. He is unique in his skills, so that is an extreme case, but possible.

As I have employees in every country in Asia, what I can tell you is that the top end people generally are making quite similar to what the West makes. It's the lower end that differs a lot across the developing countries.

Thailand is particularly harsh on the average employment for the masses, the 4-8K baht levels. That is quite tough to live on, and is especially harsh considering the working hours (6-7 days x 10-12 hours/day). 2006 was the first year our company pay scales showed Thailand lower than India. Vietnam is the lowest in Asia (excluding Cambodia, Laos, Burma). Japan, Korea, Hong Kong highest in that order.

Stogie is exactly right in his numbers. Mine only confirm that there most definitely is a top end here.

[katoeylover]

The job i was interviewed for ( and was offered) paid 120k/month based on 13 months/year as farang.

This is management level in Retail.

For that i reckon i would have had a great life!!

[stogie bear]

Yes - I agree... if you had a regular income of 120K a month you'd be able to live a full life in a nice apartment and even put something by...

To be honest with you all; I live on half that and end up wasting most of it because it's too much to spend. Mind you - my demands are a lot less and I've been through the cycle of learning all the scams, etc.

My night out last night...

10 Baht motorcycle to the main road...
7 Baht for mini bus to bus station...
18 Baht for bus to BTS On Nut...
30 Baht for BTS to Nana
500 for overpriced beer and food in Gullivers with some chums...
100 Baht for an over priced water in Obsessions...
30 Baht BTS back to On Nut..
160 Baht taxi back to my house...

About 1,000 Baht for a night out...

Now that may not seem like much to most of you reading this... and really it's not. But it wasn't that long ago that I had to work pretty fucking hard to raise 1,000 Baht so I could just piss it up on a few chicken wings and a pint of Guinness.

I stay in most of the time watching old black and white movies and tapping this dross out on the forum and working on the sites that we have...

Every time I leave the house I dread that feeling of losing all my money for what basically I could do for nothing in my own house if I could be arsed to cook!

[Guest]

(stogie bear @ Apr. 17 2007,19:20) I stay in most of the time watching old black and white movies and tapping this dross out on the forum and working on the sites that we have...

Every time I leave the house I dread that feeling of losing all my money for what basically I could do for nothing in my own house if I could be arsed to cook!

Bloody Hell Stogie, I wish I had your discipline during my longer stays in Pattaya. I can not seem to last more then two consecutive nights home alone.

To be honest I would find it very difficult to earn any money at all in Thailand especially in the tourist centres unless someone locked me up each night around 9pm then releasing me not before Marine2 closes at 6am.

Clearly plenty of Thais are on good money because I go to those bars and nightclubs in Royal City Avenue and Thai's are hanging from the rafters with drinks at 200 baht a time.

[brocklanders]

Filipino natives teaching Thai people how to speak English? ....That would make for a hilarious reality show. Filipinos think they can speak English but how well they think they speak English and how well they actually speak English are worlds apart. Some of the higher educated and wealthy Filipinos speak great English but no way in hell would they go overseas to work for such low wages. Americans and Brits cant even understand Filipinos when they speak English, imagine Thai people trying to understand them

[buttafly]

this poll is a joke, right?

as if *I* or any other punter would put their true salary up here?


and really, how did Stogie, the King of moving posts around, keep this one in the main room which deals with ladyboys and current news when this poll has nothing to do with either?? I don't get it


for the record, I make under 5K a year US and live under a bridge outside Cleveland

[Snick]

I make 10,000,000,000 Dong a year

[stogie bear]

(brocklanders @ Apr. 18 2007,06:48) Filipino natives teaching Thai people how to speak English?   ....That would make for a hilarious reality show.  Filipinos think they can speak English but how well they think they speak English and how well they actually speak English are worlds apart.    Some of the higher educated and wealthy Filipinos speak great English but no way in hell would they go overseas to work for such low wages.   Americans and Brits cant even understand Filipinos when they speak English, imagine Thai people trying to understand them

I agree... they make terrible teachers. They are worse than even the drunk smelly native teachers that cost a lot more... but only marginally.

English teaching here is a business and has nothing to do with educating people...

Once you are at one with that then making money at it becomes easy.

The most popular teachers are those that the students like... because the parents pay the fees, the owners get the money and the students go home happy...

It's got fuck all to do with how well you speak, teach or impart your skills in English.

It's show business folks...

[stogie bear]

how did Stogie, the King of moving posts around, keep this one in the main room which deals with ladyboys and current news when this poll has nothing to do with either??

I thought he'd gone! Anyway - he's right... moved to The Fish Box...

[Skinhound]

"Farangs on corporate postings make the most money and their remuneration is of course what they would normally make at home"

Having been a farang on corporate postings in a number of Asian countries, I can tell you that in my experience, these gigs pay two to three times as much
as one would make in a similar position back home.

[Guest]

I've been on a foreign posting since 1992.

In all my experience living in 6 different countries, the best return for the buck is Thailand.

Sure, it was cheaper in China when I was there, and Turkey, but nowhere near the fun value per $.

The unique thing in Thailand is that when you spend a little, it doesn't mean the quality is bad. A 24 baht dish of food on the street can be absolutely delicious. The 35 baht taxis are cleaner than bloody Canada. In fact, it's a pretty good rule of thumb that for most high-end western restaurants, the quality of food is actually worse, and often less fun, than the local Thai outdoor street shop.