Income for Women in Thailand
This is the first in a series of posts answering questions that were posed to me by an American man who met a Thai girl on a Thai internet dating site. Hopefully these will be of help to others in the same or a similar situation.
Question: I asked about my Thai girlfriend’s work and learned that she works a 40 hour week. But I think she said her income was 10,000 Baht per month. That seems impossibly low to me. Can this be true?
Answer: Yes 10,000 Bt a month is a typical salary for many jobs in Bangkok. In fact, those without a college degree can expect less. For perspective, Golf is a Registered Nurse and was making 16,000 Bt (~US$500) a month at one of the better international hospitals. The nurses’ aides there were making 7000-8000 Bt a month I think. Seems impossible to you and I and it would be impossible for you and I, but Thai’s have different expectations. It is fine for them to spend 2000-3000 for a studio apartment with no air-con and eat from street vendors for most meals. Many women (and guys) in Thailand are living like this. Street vendor meals can be had for as little as 20-30 Bt. I know on 16,000 a month Golf still had money for a monthly trip to the beach or back north to her parents. Thailand can be REALLY cheap if you know what you’re doing. If you’re willing to sacrifice a bit even you and I could probably get by on 25,000 Bt a month (I wouldn’t really want to try now though – maybe when I was 23 y/o).
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[...] The thing is that for Thai culture it is the daughter’s responsibility to care for her parents and to take care of their needs especially as they get older. Keep this in perspective though. Like I said we send maybe 10,000 a month total and as you know that is a monthly salary for a Thai woman in Bangkok. [...]
Yep, my niece graduated from college and got a job at Honda’s Thailand design center, a pretty good position for a new grad, and a very good starting salary of 13,000 baht per month. She was ecstatic about it.
Yes I’m sure she was. That’s about what Golf was making right out of school as an RN too. After 3 years she was up to 16,000 baht a month plus they gave her an apartment near the hospital. Obviously she was dumbfounded when she got to the States and saw that she could make in 2-3 days what she had made in a month in Bangkok.
Thai people become equally dumbfounded when they then see how expensive things are in the States. How to make U.S. wages but have Thailand cost of living…
Yep, my wife is still shocked at some of the prices after being here for over a year. Only two ways I can think of to make a US salary with Thailand cost of living. One is to get a job with a large multi-national corporation and get an assignment in Bangkok (not very likely for most) and the second is to create a portable job that you can do anywhere and then move to Thailand. Obviously we are opting for the latter route :>)
My friend tought about to got thailand, and set up there. He is an engineer, government need enginner in thailand.