Job Discussion Forums

[Volodiya]

The so-called government package amounts to around 28,000 Baht/month, as I understand it.

How many of you are living on that level of income, and feel it's not too tight? I exchanged a number of emails with one teacher at a university in a Thai city near the border with Laos, and she said it was tough. (She'd been there four years, though.)

Is it worthwhile to consider a job that offers no more than the government package? How do you manage with it? Are there potential compensating factors to consider?

[wix]

It depends a lot on your financial situation and your spending habits. YOu can live quite comfortably on this amount per month providing you don't have too many extravagent or expensive habits. However, your capacity to save money is fairly limited. If you don't have a few thousand dollars in reserve you will find it difficult to have enough money to fly to your home country or meet your expenses in an emergency situation. If you have any debts or are not good at managing money I suggest you think twice about working in Thailand.

[tedkarma]

I would say it is very difficult to live with wages at that level.

There are certainly those that do it - but I can't.

My lifestyle is not excessive - but I do like to live in a house with a yard, use the A/C, spend hours on the internet, drive a car, fly back to see family every 18 months or so - and not worry about whether I can afford another beer or two appetizers at dinner. Other than those things - my life is quite simple. I don't hang out in bars, drinking with friends is usually just hanging at their place or mine - I don't eat at fancy restaurants.

As wix says, anything past day to day living costs - and you are in trouble.

[Welshguy]

It can be done but I guess the question is do you wanna be doing it.
I earned 28 as a basic in surat which is quite a cheap place to live with a monthly rental of 3000 and low transport and food costs but though I mostly got by thats basically all I could do. Planning your next move from Thailand to home or to the next gig in say Taiwan, is difficult with that level of finance. Living like a rural thai peasant is best left to rural thai peasants imho.

On the positive side you can still have a nice time as long as you stick to what the locals do. Many of my students earned substantially less than I did but we all still managed to have a good craic in little local restaurants with shop bought beers etc.

Cheers
W