Minimum Wage in Thailand

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Mike

Workers toiling in a fishing net factory in Thailand

Today I thought I might share with you what the official minimum wage in Thailand is. A few months ago I wrote a post, Thailand average salary income, this has proved extremely popular for some reason, however the post is based on average per capita income, which is not very representative for many Thai people. Hopefully what follows will redress the balance a little.

Thailand Minimum Wage by Province

The following table displays the 2010 minimum wage.

Minimum Daily Wage Thailand by Province

I should explain that in Thailand provinces can have different minimum wages and you can see the province I live in, Prachuap Khir Khan, is mid table. Now lest you think these are hourly rates let me just confirm this is for a day, yes its the day rate where a day might well be from 8am-5pm or later.

So based on this table a person on the minimum wage in Prachuap Khiri Khan would earn 164 Baht for their labours.

164 Baht roughly converts to the following:

Euro: €3.96

Pound: £3.32

Dollar: $5.36

Increase in Minimum Wage Thailand

Effective from January 2011 the minimum wage in Thailand was increased, again this is on a province by province basis. Unfortunately I cannot find a table that shows this increase but here are a few examples of how the increase, said to average 6.7%, effects different provinces.

Phuket is now the top paying province with a minimum wage of 221 Baht a day, while Bangkok and nearby provinces are now set at 215 Baht a day.  Here in Prachuap the rise is 8 Baht a day to 172 Baht which means that the province continues to be one of the lowest paying provinces in Thailand.

An Average Wage for a Skilled Worker in Thailand

To put this in perspective lets look at a skilled labourer on a building site just down the road from my house. The lady in question who is a good bricklayer/plasterer works for around 9 hours each day including Saturday and sometimes Sunday each week. So that might be an average of 60 hours a week. So in a good week(not laid off for any reason) she would probably get a maximum of 1200 Baht so that’s around 5000 Baht a month or £102 or $163 or €121.

Of course this is always assuming the employer is willing to pay the minimum wage and believe me there are plenty that don’t particularly to migrant workers from Myanmar and the like. Quite just how many workers are on the minimum wage in Thailand is estimated at 4 million according to the Thai social security office although I suspect this figure is a lot higher particularly if you take into account the huge amount of illegal foreign workers in the country.

Sources:

Thai Ministry of Labour

Bangkok Post

Related posts:

  1. Thailand Average Salary Income
  2. Loan Sharks in Thailand
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  • Malcolm

    Thanks for this chart Mike , I am still surprised at how little the average Thai folks make for their daily wages, and the thing that really amazes me is the fact that most (and all family members) have a expensive cell phone , drive a new pick-up ,have huge, dvd’s , and the loudest stero systems I have ever heard, tv,s with usb ,(monthly charge ) send kids to school who stop at the 7 on their way to and from school and spend at least 50 baht a day on junk food, AND ALL THIS on min. wage (here in Wang Pho your chart shows 168 baht per day , I can’t and neither can anyone else (farang or Thai ) get anyone to do a days work for less than 200 baht a day and that is for 8 hr. day with about 5 actual hrs. of work , the rest is spent on breaks , lunch , nap cell calls and just good ole visiting ,with anyone that will listen. Maybe it’s not that way where you live , but it is a fact and way of life here in Wang Pho, not only will they not work for less than 200 baht a day , we have one of the highest unemployment among young high school grads in the Area , but that does not stop them from Playing football every night in the park and then racing all their new motor bikes up and down the country roads, where does Mom and Dad on 168 baht a day get the money to buy them all the new bikes and cells phones and give them 100 baht every time they stick their hands out and say I WANT.
    Hope you don’t mind a litte rant on the comment page of you post . But then again this is TIT. Malcolm

    • http://www.thailand-blogs.com Mike

      Hi Malcolm, these are the official figures from the Ministry of Labour. As Lloyd says it is a minimum and doesn’t reflect any other benefit. That said I also have to agree with your observations, very similar here. I can never get anyone to turn out either, despite the fact I always pay double the going rate!

      I think there are other things to take into account too, the way Thai families work together for the common good, my next door neighbour is a good example of this with home grown business even if it involves chopping up coconut tree leaves.

      Also loan sharks thrive here and prey on the needy.

      My friend the “finance man” down the soi repossess trucks as a part-time job………he always has loads of work on.

  • Lloyd

    Mike, that table is pretty misleading as it does not included statutory benefits, social security and tax obligations and is for a maximum of 7.25 hours which is the Goverments basic working day. There are also penalty rates that apply to a wide variety of “skilled” labour, from factory hands through to trained medical staff.

    Our company in Nong Khai employed 18 people in the secondary processing of agricultural produce, the minimal wage for this role was 268 Baht per day, we chose to pay a higher fixed monthly salary of 10,000 baht plus social security etc. Staff who’s shifts started work prior to 7am or after 6pm were paid a minimum of 284 Baht per day, plus 20% loading on standard overtime rates, which varied from 125% through to 250%. When we sold the company we had to pay all staff entitlements for an additional 30 days from the date of sale, plus 100% loading on holiday pay entitlements. To make the sale go through Goverment scroutiny easier, all agricultural enterprises valued at more than 32 million baht are subject to Goverment (local and federal) approval, we agreed with the new owners that they would continue with the current wage structure for 12 months from the date of sale (and paid more than 150,000 baht in “tea” money).

    As Malcolm has pointed out, I can never figure out where some Thai’s get their money, unless of course they are hanging off the arm of some farang, and how they can so easily spend it. Credit is very easy to obtain in Thailand but the rates can be extortionate, I’ve seen motorbike dealerships put 50% interest on a 2 year loan for a Honda Wave!

    • http://www.thailand-blogs.com Mike

      Lloyd yes I see what you mean about the table although I used it to illustrate what some Thai people get, its taken from the Ministry of Labour site. The source material also suggests these wages effect 4 million workers(2 million of whom are immigrant).

      Even taking the generous(by local standards) salaries that you paid i.e. 10,000 Baht, I, like you can never quite figure out how many Thais can afford repayments on their luxury goods. A visit to a dealership will show minimum monthly repayments of 6-10,000 on an average low end truck if you pay the minimum deposit.

      Like I mentioned to Malcolm, families pooling income and loan sharks certainly play their part in making the wheels go round.

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  • Kris

    Mike. I agree with all here under. I have found that if you “borrow” say, 100,000THB from another member of the village, or perhaps the neighbouring village then you can get a rate of 5% per month to pay off the loan. Let’s say you need the loan for 2 years. You then need to hand over title documents for land/house/car/ worth far more than that amount. If you default on your payments then you lose the lot after the 2 year period. You then need to pay the 5% per month. After the 2 year period of paying 60% interest per year (5% per month by 12 months) you then need to pay back the initial sum of 100,000THB.

    You reckon Wall Street and other bankers have a problem? They are only in Kindergarten!!

    • http://www.thailand-blogs.com Mike

      Kris, yes I think a few folk make a lot of money from this sort of thing here in Thailand. Of course many of the people do not have bank accounts even, so the local loan shark fills the gap.

      I remember writing last year on the subject, but I guess you also find it outside Thailand too.