Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the minimum wage here in Thailand. Oftentimes, you will see throughout internet forums, the ether of the internet if you will, a lot of misconceptions, a lot of misinformation out there. I don't use those words lightly because I am well aware that the terms are misinformation, disinformation, malformation are all words that have been used as of late kind of to sensor people I have noticed, especially in the Western press, and sort of the Western conversation if you will, so I don't use those words lightly. But unfortunately, one of the reasons we formed this channel and started making these videos is because there is just a lot of misconception out there, a lot of misnomers. I don't necessarily think people are spreading misinformation maliciously or intentionally doing this, I just think that they are just not as well informed as maybe they think they are, or they just aren't fully informed.  

I thought of making this video after reading a recent comment on this channel, quoting directly: "Unless you hold a Business Visa as a foreigner you cannot work." Not strictly speaking true. I am making another video on this channel contemporaneously with this one going into that. Quoting further: "If you have a Business Visa then you are registered as a tax payer." Again, not strictly speaking true. I will go into that in a minute. "Minimum income set by the Thai government at 50,000 Thai Baht, therefore a taxpayer and contribution to Social Security fund too. However, you will not qualify for the state pension, therefore all non-working retirees are currently outside of the tax system in Thailand, not your own country. To add the retiree in the Thai system can and will emanate," I think they meant, "via your Visa documents." 

So again, I don't even really fully understand this comment. I just see that there are a lot of sort of misnomers in here, though a pertinent one for this video being "minimum income set by the Thai government at 50,000 Thai baht." Minimum wage in Thailand is actually dictated by nationality, so different foreign nationals or I should say foreign nationals of different nationalities, will have different statutorily mandated minimum wages. For example, Filipinos here in Thailand, have a different minimum wage than for example somebody from the UK or the US. The same can be said for migrant workers for example from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar. Now it is true that for the most part, Europeans as well as folks from the Anglosphere are going to have a mandatory 50,000 Baht minimum wage per month set upon them that is going to be required. Now that said, in the same comment they said "oh you pay in the Social Security but you don't get anything necessarily." Maybe or maybe not, depending on how you are set up. If you are a small business owner and you are a Director of your own company, yeah Social Security benefits are going to be quite minimal but again if you just happen to work in Thailand, for example a teacher or you work in a company here, you are on an expat package, whatever, there may be some benefits that flow from Social Security most notably perhaps medical coverage. 

So again, the big thing to take away from this video though and the purpose of the video is yeah minimum wage for most Western expats is going to be 50,000 Baht a month but that is not the minimum wage; it will vary depending on nationality.