Posted by BaliJo on Tuesday, 13. October 1998 at 05:05 Bali Time:
In Reply to: wages posted by Curious George on Tuesday, 13. October 1998 at 03:45 Bali Time:
Although I wouldn't know what the mathematical average salary of a Balinese is (it might be 75,000 Rupiah a month if all villagers are included who have their own land and lifestock) I fully agree with your posting. And those in the tourist industry often don't regard their salary as important - tips are MUCH, MUCH more.
Nearly all Balinese are very lucky compared to other Indonesians. Directly or indirectly they benefit from the spending of tourists, and that are huge amounts at today's prices and exchange rates.
About 4 months ago there was an official statistic published which showed that 40% of Indonesia's population (i.e. 80 million people) were classified as living below the "poverty line". What was really shoking the fact that to fall into that category you had to have an income of less than 52,000 Rupiah per month - which was at the time about US$3.50 and nowadays US$6.00 PER MONTH! If they would raise that to US$8 or US$9 per month probably 60% of the population would qualify.
Actually, as "Gnatnib" seems to be complaining about the price of 20,000 Rupiah for a massage, let him do it himself and save some money.
Regards.