In Reply to: even though posted by crowboy on Monday, 9. May 2011 at 21:06 Bali Time:
1 million is minimum wage in the Kuta area, and that is for a waitress of about 16-18 years old. Beach massage pays more than working in a salon, I have friends that would prefer to work the beach and can put their kids through university on what they earn (much better than working for someone in a salon and being subject to tax etc). 2.4 million plus a split of the ++ for example is what the front desk people earn at KTH The Indonesian Ops manager is on nearly 8 mil a month at KTH (I can show you the figures). I know a guy who drives a golf cart for a villa in Seminyak and earns 5 million in salary and 5 million in tips. There are minimum wages for all jobs where they work for a registered business and you will find that there are inspectors, a friend of ours owns the Bamboo Corner, Gong etc and all his girls are on minimum of 1 mil, the cooks are on 2 mil, he has his books checked regularly. I know this from many friends having business in Kuta and Legian and our personal experience of our staff (minimum wage is 1 million for the cleaner in our families hotel in the North of Bali). I don't know any taxi drivers so cannot comment but do know that the bluebird drivers have to have a monthly medical (blood pressure and eye test) to keep their licence, it's 25,000 a go, I know as my husband has to do it as well. Once you start earning over 1.35 mil a month you must pay tax (and register). A lot of staff prefer to stay below this threshold to avoid registering or paying, they prefer the cash tips they can make instead. We've tried putting staff wages up as incentives and they get scared that they will be paying tax.