noblemen but also to a new wave of entrepreneurs and merchants. Soon after, the export of agricultural products, including most significantly rice, became paramount in the steady growth of the economy and Thailand’s inclusion in the global market.
A cultural and economical hangover from Siam’s reliance on serfdom is, arguably, still present in Thai society. As such, living like a king or a queen, or at the very least a master, is relatively achievable, at least for the middle and upper classes. Taking taxis everywhere, eating out every day, having regular massages and employing gardeners, maids and cleaners is not seen as particularly indulgent for a large percentage of the kingdom’s residents. Of course, this is only made possible by Thailand’s huge socio-economic disparity, its ingrained, clearly defined hierarchical structures and its slew of servile jobs. In Thailand, there are whistle-blowing car park attendants, guards who appear to be guarding little more than their plastic seats, well-dressed doormen employed solely to salute customers at shopping malls, and countless other subservient jobs that have disappeared from many a developed country’s workplace.
Gender inequality is another remnant of traditional Thai culture that hasn’t dramatically changed over the years. Although women can be found on construction sites, collecting trash and generally doing any job that men do, they also tend to earn, on average, 81 percent of what men earn for doing the same job. Thai women have to compete with very traditional, stereotypical and downright sexist views, both inside and outside the office. At home, they are expected to take care of the children and perform all domestic duties, all of which are done with virtually no governmental assistance.
Most Thais work long, hard days, the average being from 8 am to 6 pm, five days a week, often with a half or full day on Saturday.
Although rice fields can still be found in the countryside, many rural Thais have migrated to the cities to find work.
WHEN DISASTER STRIKES
As long as Thai workers have not been fired or have left their position without due cause, they are eligible for up to 15,000 baht (US$450) unemployment benefit per month, depending on the amount of social security contributions they have made. Although this may not seem like a huge amount, the minimum wage in Thailand is just 300 baht a day ($9), so 15,000 baht a month is actually a well above average monthly amount.
Any Thai who earns less than 150,000 baht (US$4,500) per year is exempt from paying tax, meaning, in effect, that a huge percentage of the Thai population and workforce do not pay taxes or make any social security contributions whatsoever. This includes Thailand’s street vendors, fruit sellers, DVD merchants, tourist touts, illegal taxi drivers, and all those employed in cash-in-hand industries. A downside of this seemingly kind concession is that should disaster strike and they find themselves unable to sell pineapples, or without customers, then they will invariably find themselves on their own, unable to receive any help from the state. In Thailand, one must be part of and pay into the system to benefit from it.
Foreigners in Thailand who find themselves in a similar situation are also rarely entitled to any financial support despite the significant tax and social security payments they may have made. This is because a foreigner’s residence and status as a non-tourist in Thailand is usual dependent on having a work permit. Once that is taken away, so too are the majority of a foreigner’s rights to aid.
It is fortunate, therefore, that at least statistically Thailand enjoys one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world, standing at around 0.8 percent.
THE NEW THAILAND
A walk around any Thai supermarket or shopping mall, where an unbelievable number of smartphone-using staff are sitting down and chatting, is testimony to the unnecessarily high level of employment in Thailand. From the spare tire store worker whose only duty appears to be glancing slightly over the shoulder of an unattended customer to the staff who monitor and wield flashlights while commuters walk through metal detectors at train stations, many of Thailand’s shops, stores and industries seem to employ around a third more workers than a foreigner is normally used to. Indeed, it often appears that Thailand creates a job and employs somebody to complete a task that only needs doing because it wasn’t done by the relevant person in the first place.
Do not make the misguided assumption, however, that this increase in numbers of staff correlates with an increase in productivity or efficiency. Asking the whereabouts of an item in a Thai store merely results in an extended game of Chinese whispers. Salaries being so low, combined with staff numbers being so high, often results in either an unwillingness or an unrequited ability to think or perform a duty outside the very narrow remit of a job.
The flip side of the 100 baht note depicts King Rama V freeing slaves.
CAN I HELP YOU?
Appearances are doubly deceptive, with many economists suggesting that Thai employment figures probably aren’t as rosy as they first appear. A significant percentage, they suggest, are merely not officially unemployed or are working fewer than 20 hours per week. There are also many Thai workers, especially in the tourist industry, who suffer from off-season unemployment.
As millions of Thais are not required to pay tax, the knock-on effect contributes to the woefully inadequate welfare system, which often means little or no help when Thais get down on their luck and really need it.
Like many welfare programs in Thailand, child care, and even a knowledge of it, is mainly only available to those within the system and those who have made social security contributions. For those who have, a pilot child welfare program was launched in 2015 that equates to, on average, around 400 baht (US$12) a month for children up to one year old. After that, parents are on their own. In contrast, the Thai government is more accommodating towards senior citizens, regardless of whether they have paid social security during their lifetime. They qualify for a state pension of 600 baht per month in their sixties, 700 baht in their seventies and so on.
Some 40 percent of Thailand’s work-force is engaged in the agricultural sector, 40 percent in service industries and 20 percent in manufacturing. The combined success of the manufacturing and service industries, alongside Thailand’s strong, steady industry of agricultural exports, has resulted in a reduction in the number of people living below the poverty line from 65 percent in 1988 to 13 percent in 2011. According to the World Bank, Thailand is one of the great development success stories of the 20th century.
Long commutes to work are often part of the daily slog.
Four hands are not necessarily better than two.
THE THAI LANGUAGE
With seemingly lax one-size-fits-all rules regarding tenses, relatively simple sentence structures and mainly monosyllabic words, the Thai language appears to be one of the easier constructed languages.
Once you dig deeper, however, you will learn that the tonal language of Thai, with its subtle nuances, is incredibly difficult to master. There are also different dialects depending on region, and particular words, sentence structures and phrases that are only used in certain circumstances. There are even different registers, including Religious Thai and Royal Thai. There are also masculine and feminine versions of some Thai words.
