You may not realize it but this is somewhat true.

In Thai culture, women hold all the power and earning potential.  In public they give way to the men, but inside the home and behind the scenes where most non-Thais never get to see, the man does everything for the woman.  And I don't mean just buying her gifts and such.  The woman controls the house, family and household finances.

Ladyboys, by the far majority, come from poorer families.  Being a male in this case usually means a life of poverty working on the farm, begging or any other barely making ends meet life.  Making that switch to female, and it doesn't even have to be post-op, means that now he/she can work in the red light district's bars, clubs, saunas and prostitution.  The guy potentially goes from poverty to now being able to spend on him/herself.  It's all about being able to make money.  Gay for pay as it were.

if this is emily on 4th floor ... she's probably saving up pretty well.  the first time i popped into her room by sheer luck -- she had plucked a bowlful of corn to steam with her rice later and that was what she was having for her lunch/dinner (frugal gal?).  although, if she's frugal, i kind of wonder why she pays for such a large room (probably at least 2x the size of the other rooms -- although maybe it's just nicer working in a large room all day long).

Nope,

If you ever read Friction's blog (she was a WG for a long time get the reference?)

She said that a lot of the time the biggest competition for WGs was a punters own hand, as it offered a similar result for considerably less cost. I.e. you get to come without any emotional ties or investment.

I agree with Freelancer.  How does anyone put a price, a financial cost, associated with the inherent risks the ladies run all the time ?  I personally don't think that a value can be assigned to the potential downside the ladies face everyday.  

There was a recent thread on this site about some seriously bad individual who physically abused one of the ladies, putting her into the hospital.  What value is assigned to that ?  Will she be the same in the future ?  Did she plan for an extended period without income caused by one bad client ?

What the ladies earn in terms of actual income must be understood in the light of real issues that could occur:  obtaining a possible disease, physical abuse, LE action, etc.  Here in the states, I think the ladies deserve what they have earned.  I have to believe it is the same in HK , Macau or elsewhere.

You are corrected, most can afford luxury goods that others only dream about. After spending and giving money to their parents, how many think about what's going to happen in 8 to 10 years. Most are only 18 to 21 years old and have very limited education. How many think about saving a big portion for the future when it will be much harder to find work. Their career as working girls is short and most don't think about the future.

I am new to HK. So what was creating the wealth pre-87, stockmarket boom? where are all these money makers now? it sounds like a golden era for WGs.

Globalisation and automation was kicking off around that time. It allowed companies to slash their costs and increase their profit margins massively or reduce the costs of their goods and thus increase turn over.

24 years on the bill has arrived by lorry, in the form of mega unemployment in the west.

I think u mean the 5 years runnnig up to 1997. I call it the back to the home land fear spending period. Alot of people had immigrated due to fear of communism. the exodus of many many people caused wages to increase and the fear that one's wealth was going to disappear once HK returned to the mainland made people spend. Spend else your money is going to zero post hand-over. the phrase of men in those days was "let the horses run (lets go gamble at the races), lets go dancing (lets going to night clubbing), lets go play with women (lets screw all the girls we can)"

people would spend on stocks, property and night life. it was just one big vicious cycle. I would easily spend HKD200k a month on night clubs on my company account. My boss would spend HKD800k a month. no one cared cause it bought business which was equating to millions. these WG would be bid up by punters cause there was on average on week days more punters than WG in night clubs. I have had to stand on some occassions outside China Night Club waiting with the boss to get a room!!!

141 really only exsisted in cheaper areas not like now. It was regarded as cheap and dirty for poor folks then. top class WG would always head to night clubs to work cause the income was much much better for much less hours and a place to find a sugar daddy. I remember my back in 1992 when i visited Club BBoss the WG i had was young and stunning. She was working part time to fund her HK University education during the day time. Back then you saw alot of very very stunningly beautiful girls 17-23 working cause the income was just too attractive.

pre 1997 it was just one BIG party. Oh so many wonderful memories!!!

post 1997 the mainland exodus occurred who would under bid the prices - deflation. with collapsing prices the creme de la creme locals stopped working as the income versus morality issue ratio collapsed. And then the sprout of 141 appeared.

I think that the income depends on the popularity of the girls and the locations (countries they are working in). This can really vary. I don't think that we can draw an average for this. One girl in Bodi I asked she was earning RMB 40-50k/month. Even this, I don't think they can earn this every month. Every work has its ups and downs.

Seems like you've been around the block a few more times than the rest of us.

I too had been to BBOSS back when the girls were stunning, young, English-speaking college girls.
Nowadays, unless you're a high roller, the quality of the girls is borderline pathetic.

Their incomes are highly variable - there are of course some who are earning very high incomes and in short periods of time but the majority of WL's earn very modest incomes considering the number of clients they see and the prices they charge.  But of course the big unknown factor is the 'hangers-on' who live off the girls and some of those are very greedy :-(