| Thailand is a society with hugh income and wealth disparity. At the bottom of the scale there is the majority of Thai uneducated or poorly-educated laborers. A minimum wage has been established. Currently it stands at about 175 baht a day (that is about 5 US$). Obviously one can not spend at leisure with such a low salary. 175 baht would actually cover the cost of one meal in a relatively cheap hotel.
Despite the low cost of Thai labor, there seems to be an abundance of foreign workers (Burmese, Khmer), especially on construction sites. These workers will work for even less, and are not treated all that well. Quite regularly, it is possible to see them being transported like cattle, 40 or 50 people in the back of a truck.
Low wages of course are not exactly a benefit for the workers themselves. However, if you are living in Thailand and need some work done, the low costs involved are appealing, although there are some drawbacks too.
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Lumphini Park - Keeping the park clean. Probably for about 150-175 baht a day. |
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In most cases, the wages paid for work done, are kind of nominal. As a foreigner, you will almost always pay somewhat more than the going rate, but even then, the costs of materials and equipment used, will outweigh the cost of labor.
For example, if you do some home renovations, like adding some floor carpets, or decorating your rooms with wallpaper, you will pay for the materials (carpets, wallpaper), but the price you pay will include 'free installment'.
Cheap labor costs though also come at a price! Blue coat workers are often not that careful when performing certain tasks, they seem to need constant supervision, and hardly take responsibility for damage or poorly finished works. Some examples :
1. We had our parquet sanded and coated. The work itself was relatively well done (through a home decoration service). However, repetitive housecleaning did not result in getting rid of all kinds of small damages done to walls and even the ceiling. As a result we basically had to repaint our walls to make our apartment look up to standard again.
2. While painting our walls, the laborers carelessly deposited their paint buckets on our new floor carpets, without bothering to use some of the provided abundant old newspapers for protection.
3. When you have maid service in your apartment or house, you should take some time to instruct the maid what to do (and often how to do it). There are exceptions to the rule (and we remember having a really good maid at one time, but unfortunately she moved town), but supervision is quite necessary. Otherwise, you will notice in a few months massive dust accumulations under your cabinets and behind your curtains.
4. When installing a water heater (above the false ceiling), a technician carelessly installed a ladder inside the bathtub damaging it, as well as the ceramic tiles on the wall.
5. What should take only one day, often requires many more days. Not so much a loss of money is the problem, as the loss of valuable time.
In our experience, this happens all too often. Simple tasks are quickly done (and a tip received for good measure), only to show failure soon thereafter. We have lost count of the number of times someone replaced a water pipe (for heaters, toilets, faucets), only to have the replacement starting to leak almost immediately (and a new visit, and probably a new tip made necessary).
Annoying is that often you will have to bargain for services. Even when you pay people who work at your premises well, they intend to not just be happy with that, but with subsequent work will want more money. Haggling about this can be a bit of a nuisance.
Now, how much should you pay for work done? If you live in a house or apartment where there is working staff provided, you possibly do not have to pay them 'officially', but you may want to tip them for small works performed (such as plumbing for your toilet, an amazingly recurring problem in Thai buildings). This will ensure that they do not become to reluctant to help you out when the need arises. As for how much you may want to tip, rely on evaluating body language when they receive the money. This is a trial and error approach that works well.
How much to pay for labor in your house (painting, carpeting, plumbing etc.) We recently started telling everybody who wanted to know that we would pay 100 baht per hour for any work done in our apartment. There was on one occasion almost a fight among volunteers. While this is really small money, it is a lot for an individual Thai worker.
However, if you decide on hiring a home decoration service, expect to pay through your nose, if they see a 'farang' coming. But for some work it may obviously be necessary.
As for maid service, we pay 150 baht per visit of our maid (usually for one or two hours work, including ironing). We strongly advise against paying per month. On repeated occasions, we noted that maids will not show up often (feeling sick, having to visit relatives etc.) If you pay them per visit, they are bound to come more reliably.
Political comment : Thailand is really lacking a political party that concentrates on labor conditions and the plight of the uneducated.
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