Sir_Quality_U_Feel wrote:Samouth, my fiancee makes more than a lot westerners. Plus benefits. But she does work 50hours + per week, sometimes more when contracts call for a deadline to be met. Always half to full day Saturdays. But her boss seems to treat her well.

She earned all of it herself and I'm proud of her. I know she will do great I'm my native country.

My fiancee works for a medium sized construction company (Khmer owned, rags to riches story with the owner). They build small rural bridges and roads. She's the General Manager/queen-of-all-trades at the company.

Her Bachelor degree is a B.s in Computer Science. So that is a good example of how she's worked her way up to a position within an industry that is 0% related to her degree!

She is great. Your have got a treasure Sir Quality U Feel. Treat her well.

I think a lot of people are comparing apples with oranges here. I've read a few posts about Khmers who earn "western" salaries, but the question isn't whether a Khmer can eventually earn a western salary, but whether the khmer is paid the same salary as a westerner would for doing the same work. If a khmer general manager makes more than most teachers, I'm not surprised, teachers aren't paid very well here. But does the khmer general manager make the same as the western general manager? That is a far more apt comparison.

A lot of people talk about westerners being more qualified, and I certainly think there are some positions this is true for, but a lot of that is perception too. I'd say the wage gap is a combination of this perception and the reality that they can pay khmers less and get away with it.

I knew a Khmer language teacher who worked for UNTAC, spoke French and English fluently, and did private tutoring lessons. Total professional with years of experience, yet he received $7 per hour, which is more than most tutors made (this was a few years ago, things may have changed). How many westerners would accept $7 per hour to tutor? I promise you the ones who would are not nearly as qualified as this man.

Samouth, you should work hard to get the best salary you can and a lot of the advice in this thread was spot on in that regard, but people are also denying a very basic reality, which is that there is rampant wage discrimination and it favors the westerner.

potty wrote:a barang will ALWAYS earn more than a khmer (comparable position, company etc) simply for the reason that they are deployed.

working abroad earns more by default.

strange, that nobody here mentioned this...?

because it's wrong... very wrong.
if the company has desire for workers from abroad, then yes. or if a company with multiple offices sends an existing employee abroad.. again yes.

but if you go to a country yourself, and start passing around resumes, then there's little guarantee of that... and quite possibly it will be the other way around as they have added overhead of dealing with immigration and modified taxes for you. hiring immigrant workers cheaper than you'd pay your locals is quite common in most of the developed world... "deployed" or not.

MekongMouse wrote:I think a lot of people are comparing apples with oranges here. I've read a few posts about Khmers who earn "western" salaries, but the question isn't whether a Khmer can eventually earn a western salary, but whether the khmer is paid the same salary as a westerner would for doing the same work. If a khmer general manager makes more than most teachers, I'm not surprised, teachers aren't paid very well here. But does the khmer general manager make the same as the western general manager? That is a far more apt comparison.

A lot of people talk about westerners being more qualified, and I certainly think there are some positions this is true for, but a lot of that is perception too. I'd say the wage gap is a combination of this perception and the reality that they can pay khmers less and get away with it.

I knew a Khmer language teacher who worked for UNTAC, spoke French and English fluently, and did private tutoring lessons. Total professional with years of experience, yet he received $7 per hour, which is more than most tutors made (this was a few years ago, things may have changed). How many westerners would accept $7 per hour to tutor? I promise you the ones who would are not nearly as qualified as this man.

Samouth, you should work hard to get the best salary you can and a lot of the advice in this thread was spot on in that regard, but people are also denying a very basic reality, which is that there is rampant wage discrimination and it favors the westerner.

Agree!

I was at my regular massage place the other day and they had organised a friend to thread my legs.
All was going well until she got about halfway through the first leg and had to go.
Nobody could explain what was going on and she just packed up and left. In the west that just wouldn't happen.
I was left mind boggled, still don't know why she had to leave.

rozzieoz wrote:I was at my regular massage place the other day and they had organised a friend to thread my legs.
All was going well until she got about halfway through the first leg and had to go.
Nobody could explain what was going on and she just packed up and left. In the west that just wouldn't happen.
I was left mind boggled, still don't know why she had to leave.

A sick buffalo ?

Something urgent obviously.

What is leg threading?

Using sewing thread to remove leg hair.