My wife is from thailand and has applied for green card and EAD in may 2008 how soon can she work anywhere

Question

does she need to wait for green card approval and have a S.S. cand before she can work or get hired?

Answer 1

She needs a SS card that authorize work. So she'll have to wait for the green card first.

Answer 2

She can work as soon as she gets the EAD.  Once she has the EAD she can go to the local Social Security Administration office and apply for a card.  They should give her a piece of paper showing that her card is pending which the employer should accept.

If you applied in May you should hear something very soon about the EAD.