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Hed_Kandi
Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Posts: 45
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 2:13 pm Post subject: THAILAND - Avergage MONTHLY SALARY and COST OF LIVING ??? |
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I'm just looking for a realistsic, straight up answer here. I'm planning to leave Canada and go teach English in Thailand (like so many others here). I don't want any unrealistic expectations or answers, just the straight up truth.
Just like if someone wanted to come to Canada and work here on a budget, I'd tell them that the costs of living is as follows:
Renting an apartment - $500 - $1000 (living on your own)
$250 - $500 (living with room mate)
Food - $400 a month (making your own meals)
$800 (eating out with 3 great meals a day)
Bus Pass $50 month
Cell Phone $25 -$75 month (depending on plan)
Miscellaneous $200 (movies, video games, clothes, etc)
You can get jobs in Canada with NO education starting at
$6.00 an hour at Mc Donalds or fast food restaurants
to
$7.50 an hour working in a grocery store
to
$13.00 an hour working for Bill collections
x 160 hours per month. Then minus 15% of your wage with taxes.
THIS IS A REALISTIC BREAKDOWN
I need one of these for Thailand. For someone who has lived there and can give me realistic costs.[/url] |
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kenkannif
Joined: 07 Apr 2004 Posts: 550
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 5:11 am Post subject: |
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Kent's already done so on one of the stickies at the top, have a gander! |
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Sheep-Goats
Joined: 16 Apr 2004 Posts: 527
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 9:39 am Post subject: |
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It's also a good idea to note what salary you're talking about, especially when using dollars. Many people will assume you're translating to USD (which is the de-facto international currency, apart from Europe), others will not.
In USD:
Rent: 100-200
Food: 100-200
Transport: 150
Phone and other bills: 100
Entertainment: 300-400
Material aquisition (shopping): 300-400
Note that, in Bangkok, if you wanted to, you could add a zero to any of these figures quite easily, so you'll have live reasonably to stick to these numbers.
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At the low end, you're looking at about 1000USD per month, assuming you go in for Entertainment or Shopping, and not both. If you try to save, say, 200USD a month in order to fly back home some day, you're looking at cutting out the Entertainment/Shopping portion of your income.
60% or so of the teachers here make 30kB (750USD) at one job and then get to the 1000USD by way of extra work. 20% make 40kB base (or more) and may or may not hold extra work. The other 20% live like hermits in a city built for princes. |
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sigmoid
Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 1276
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 2:22 pm Post subject: |
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Quote: |
...live like hermits in a city built for princes. |
That's a brilliant line, S-G. And no I'm not taking the P. |
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Zanada

Joined: 18 Aug 2004 Posts: 500 Location: Here
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Posted: Sat May 07, 2005 7:25 am Post subject: * |
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Quote:
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60% or so of the teachers here make 30kB (750USD) at one job. |
I'm surprised by this. Is this accurate? The majority makes 30 thousand Baht?
Z |
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kenkannif
Joined: 07 Apr 2004 Posts: 550
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2005 4:19 am Post subject: |
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Maybe if you average them all out, but personally I don't think it's correct. If you want to earn 40K+ plus here it's pretty easy to do IMO&E! |
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Sheep-Goats
Joined: 16 Apr 2004 Posts: 527
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2005 1:50 pm Post subject: |
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kenkannif wrote: |
Maybe if you average them all out, but personally I don't think it's correct. If you want to earn 40K+ plus here it's pretty easy to do IMO&E! |
Well, I'd say it's quite easy to get to that mark, but not so easy on your lifestyle.
Perhaps I'm being hypocritical in this, as after only a year here I had a job that paid about 50kB a month (if you add in and average out the bonuses -- 45k if you don't) with a month's holidays and no weekends -- but I also feel that I was in the top 20% or so of the people here teaching Engilsh, especially when it came to working with Thais, bartering my salary, and presenting myself at interviews. Quite honestly, I've met a lot of fallout dreggy farang here who were working seven days a week for ECC in Nowherekapi for 35kB a month, no paid holidays, no work permit, nothing.
One month I made 60,000B, but that was working six days a week at two jobs. And a lot of angling to get there.
You're a resourcefull guy, Ken, and you've got your finger on Thailands pulse and know your way around. But people posting questions on this board may not be. They may be the kind of people that call their computer monitor "the TV."
So, yes, for a go-getting sharp witted able individual it's not that damn hard to get to 40,000B. But given the tropical malaise that sets in, the frequent obsession farang here have with Beer Chang and hookers, their inabiilty to get out of a taxi and on a bus, etc etc etc, I feel safer giving what I feel are the averages rather than the you-coulds.
I should add, however, that perhaps half of that 60% which are salaried at 30k pick up an extra 5 or 10k from (sometimes unreliable) overtime from the same employer, rather than another one, if that makes anyone feel any better. |
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Sheep-Goats
Joined: 16 Apr 2004 Posts: 527
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2005 1:57 pm Post subject: Re: * |
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Zanada wrote: |
Quote:
Quote: |
60% or so of the teachers here make 30kB (750USD) at one job. |
I'm surprised by this. Is this accurate? The majority makes 30 thousand Baht?
Z |
At ONE job. Most of those folks will have another job -- typically either evening stuff OR working all day Saturday -- to get them to 35-40k. Sometimes this "other" job is overtime hours at their primary job -- which, of course, are not paid on holidays, when there aren't enough students, when the accountant lady screws up, etc etc etc. |
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kenkannif
Joined: 07 Apr 2004 Posts: 550
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Posted: Tue May 10, 2005 4:23 am Post subject: |
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SG,
(Swallows pride)....Yes you're right. Without being rude you do get a fair few muppets over here that ain't got a clue (no disrespect intended!). |
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Placebo

Joined: 19 Nov 2004 Posts: 80 Location: Bangkok
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Posted: Tue May 10, 2005 10:41 pm Post subject: |
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Sheep-Goats wrote: |
60% or so of the teachers here make 30kB... |
A lot of people make the false assumption that teachers generally earn salaries in the 40,000 baht range, working one job, and that it's pretty easy to secure one of these jobs.
Without trying to sound too pessimistic, I think that your 60% figure is inaccurate. I just counted the job ads on Thailand's biggest job web site:
-close to 90% of all current job ads are in the range of 30,000 baht.
Now, this does not allow an accurate prediction of what the average teacher earns but it clearly shows what the majority of employers pay. |
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