This is from a Notice posted in the Thomas Cook office in Margao

Minimum rate per hour as approved!

Unskilled 79rps per hour
Semi-skilled 83rps per hour
Skilled 89rps per hour
Clerical 91rps per hour

1 day off a week Sunday

Hi Lassigirl....

I don't know what the notice was in Thomas Cook but I don't think it's at all realistic..

The daily rate for Male labourers (The ones who stand at the roundabouts in the morning waiting for work is from between 140 to 170 Rs/- per day, these are normally skilled labourers although not qualified. This is a good wage normally as they don't have any security (might not be any work the next day).

We have a lady who helps us keep our garden neat and tidy and she requested 80 Rs/- per day. (Didn't even barter)

For Monthly workers the rate is from around 2000 Rs/- per month to 4000 Rs/- for general staff and then depending on qualification etc perhaps up to 10,000

Etc (all below the unskilled rate you got from Thomas Cooks wall (which relates to around 15,000 per month.

Sorry if my post was misleading, it obviously only relates to the Thomas Cook employee's as it was seen in their office. I do realise that many people earn a lot less than that, and some even more, and that the manual workers in Goa have a very hard life.
I think it would be very hard to give an average wage in Goa, and I didn't mean to give a false impression, I apologise for my stupidity

When friends of my family went over to goa in february they decided to go on a jungle trip on the way they were taken to a cashew nut factory where they saw girls sat in very dark and damp rooms peeling cashews by hand and individually and they were told they got 100 hundred ruppes per day and they were there from 8am til 6pm peeling,washing and flavouring these nuts.

A point to remember in this topic, Goa is the richest state in India and the wages posted here are greater than those out of state, which is one reason why so many come to Goa from the surrounding states for work. A good example of the affluence of Goa compared to its neighbours, is when you journey into the state of Karnatacka, for example, the population are lucky to have a bicycle for transport, and the number of scooters and m/cycles is much less than seen in Goa. Alan

Seen an advert in the paper today "maid required to cook clean and do the laundry for 3 people, Rs1500/month" and that would be for a 60 hour week, no mention of food or lodgings

lez

see guys that is why i want to spend a bit of time outside of the goan state when were back next month i feel once you can take that greediness for the gullable british tourist pound away, i might be able to experiance some of the real india,but at the moment in a lot of places in goa it seems were seen as a cash box with lots of money wich is most definatly not the case,steve.

A taxi driver told me that the drivers working the trucks from iron ore quarries earn Rs7,000 a month and that was seen as a very very good wage - one of the top.

A seller on one of the beaches told me that when she goes back to Karnataka out of (Goan) season, she earns 25rs a day for gardening.

Certainly correct HJ. 25 for men,20rps for women is the going daily rate for the Lamanis when they return to Karnataka after the season, but they often use the term "gardening" when actually it means working the fields, rice, maize, sugar beet etc. Dont seem much for back breaking work does it, so what they earn in Goa must seem like a windfall. Goans themselves are very well paid compared to the migrant labour, but of course are lumbered with the higher rate of living which we as "rich" tourists contribute to the inflation.
Slightly off topic.....During the second year of the stay of the River Princess, a salvage company from Mumbai was given the contract for removal. The plan of action was to build a bamboo bridge from the beach to the ship and employ 4000 workers from the Bombay scrapyards to actually cut the ship up and remove by the truckload.
Now the imported labour was to be paid 120rps per day, but the Goan government said that half of the workforce must be Goan and they must be paid 400rps per day. Well the rest is history, that was never going to happen. Maybe if it "landed" on the doorstep of the Taj/Fort Aguada as did happen in the mid ninties it also would have been removed in a couple of months.

Goa4lifex,
I too did this trip in Febuary and went to the Cahew Nut Factory we were told that the girls earned 70-80 rupeess a day working from 8 to 5 to conditions were vile but the girls seemed to be lovely.

its horrible scraf! my friends that went on the trip always used to bring bags of cashew nuts back but now wont touch them because they have seen what the girls go through to make them. i dont no whether i would want to see it, i feel so sorry for them. its a shame there is poverty in the world and especially in goa the people are so nice.

We have a saying in our house when you have to do something you don't want, we always say look on the bright side you could be scratting cashew nuts in Goa, it puts things into perspective.

Debs

You will find a lot of the Goans and out of state workers in the tourist linked trades, waiters in restaurants and hotels etc as well as room boys (even shack boys) are given 'accommodation' as part of their wages, this accommodation generally is either sleeping on the restaurant floor or piling into one room with dozens of others. I believe the majority or tourist linked trades are very poorly paid as they (the employers and employees) know their money is made up by tips. Have heard too many horror stories from waiters etc for some of the tales not to be true.
cheers Lyn x

<<<its>>> % of bad guys and good ones is the same all over the world. too much poverty in the world- thats for sure!

Totally unrealistic. I do not know anyone who is paid by the hour. Daily or monthly is the norm. I pay my domestic staff monthly and I pay above the going rate. A goan employing a cleaner would for example pay much less. So, my cleaner, arrives at 10 leaves at 1pm 6 days a week, all year round, receives 4,000 a month, she is paid as much for her integrity as anything else and has been with me for 8 years, Ive known her 20. James, our angel, does everything else and also cleans one day a week, is totally responsible for the dogs and cat when we are away, runs all errands, and is priceless, has a mobile phone, petrol, food, acommodation and 6,000 per month, and the run of the house and the toys when we are away for a few weeks. They consider themselves to have very good jobs, excellent conditions and above average wages. I love them.

sadly Goa4life i agree with tour views about awful conditions however if we dont support them theyll have nothing at all no benefits over there though!!

well those poor souls that you see in the 'ditches' at tthe sides of the road in more rural Goa cleaning out all the scud so monsoon water can drain (well not exactly rural but not on the main candolim Baga road) earn as follows for their back breaking filthy work, women 40 rupees a day men 80 rupees a day!!! I pay my maid and gardener in line with what Goans pay in order to help keep the economy stable as my Goan friends have told me they have trouble getting staff trying to compete with what the foreign tourists are paying however we make up fpr this low wage by helping the staff in other ways, medical bills, providing beds and clothes and helping out generally where needed
Chilly

it really makes you think though scraf what would actually happen if people didnt go on holiday to goa they would have nothin almost. i have friends there and its horrible to think they would have nothin if we didnt go over there and buy the things they make.
i supose thats just how the world is.