Wikipedia

Wage

For other uses, seeWage (disambiguation).

Awageis payment made by anemployerto an employee forworkdone in a specific period of time. Some examples of wage payments includecompensatorypayments such asminimum wage,prevailing wage,andyearly bonuses,andremunerativepayments such asprizesandtip payouts.Wages are part of the expenses that are involved in running a business. It is an obligation to the employee regardless of the profitability of the company.

Payment by wage contrasts withsalaried work,in which the employer pays an arranged amount at steady intervals (such as a week or month) regardless of hours worked, withcommissionwhich conditions pay on individual performance, and with compensation based on the performance of the company as a whole. Waged employees may also receive tips orgratuitypaid directly by clients andemployee benefitswhich are non-monetary forms of compensation. Sincewage labouris the predominant form of work, the term "wage" sometimes refers to all forms (or all monetary forms) of employee compensation.

Origins and necessary components

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Wage labourinvolves the exchange of money for time spent at work. AsMoses I. Finleylays out the issue inThe Ancient Economy:

The very idea of wage-labour requires two difficult conceptual steps. First it requires the abstraction of a man's labour from both his person and the product of his work. When one purchases an object from an independent craftsman... one has not bought his labour but the object, which he had produced in his own time and under his own conditions of work. But when one hires labour, one purchases an abstraction, labour-power, which the purchaser then uses at a time and under conditions which he, the purchaser, not the "owner" of the labour-power, determines (and for which he normally pays after he has consumed it). Second, the wage labour system requires the establishment of a method of measuring the labour one has purchased, for purposes of payment, commonly by introducing a second abstraction, namely labour-time.[1]

The wage is the monetary measure corresponding to the standard units of working time (or to a standard amount of accomplished work, defined as apiece rate). The earliest such unit of time, still frequently used, is the day of work. The invention ofclockscoincided with the elaborating of subdivisions of time for work, of which thehourbecame the most common, underlying the concept of an hourly wage.[2][3]

Wages were paid in theMiddle Kingdomof ancient Egypt,[4]ancient Greece,[5]and ancient Rome.[5]Following the unification of thecity-statesinAssyriaandSumerbySargon of Akkadinto asingle empireruled from hishome citycirca 2334 BC,common Mesopotamian standardsforlength,area,volume,weight,andtimeused byartisanguildswere promulgated byNaram-Sin of Akkad(c. 2254–2218 BC), Sargon's grandson, includingshekels.[6]Codex HammurabiLaw 234(c. 1755–1750 BC) stipulated a 2-shekelprevailing wagefor each 60-gur(300-bushel)vesselconstructed in anemployment contractbetween ashipbuilderand aship-owner.[7][8][9]Law 275 stipulated aferryrateof 3-gerahper day on acharterpartybetween aship chartererand ashipmaster.Law 276 stipulated a 21⁄2-gerah per dayfreight rateon acontract of affreightmentbetween a charterer and shipmaster, while Law 277 stipulated a1⁄6-shekel per day freight rate for a 60-gur vessel.[10][11][9]

Determinants of wage rates

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See also:Efficiency wage

Depending on the structure and traditions of different economies around the world, wage rates will be influenced by market forces (supply and demand), labour organisation, legislation, and tradition. Market forces are perhaps more dominant in theUnited States,while tradition,social structureandseniority,perhaps play a greater role inJapan.[12][citation needed]

Wage differences

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See also:Gender pay gapandWage theft

Even in countries where market forces primarily set wage rates, studies show that there are still differences in remuneration for work based on sex and race. For example, according to theU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,in 2007 women of all races made approximately 80% of the median wage of their male counterparts. This is likely due to the supply and demand for women in the market because of family obligations.[13]Similarly, white men made about 84% the wage of Asian men, and black men 64%.[14]These are overall averages and are not adjusted for the type, amount, and quality of work done.

Effects

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Corruption

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It is known that the wage level of employees in thepublic sectoraffects the frequency of corruption, and that higher salary levels for public sector workers help reduce corruption. It has also been shown that countries with smaller wage gaps in the public sector have less corruption. [15]

Wages in the United States

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Historical graph ofreal wagesin the US from 1964 to 2005
Wages in the United States
Nominalwages
Adjusted for inflationwages
See also:Minimum wageandMinimum wage in the United States

Seventy-five million workers earned hourly wages in the United States in 2012, making up 59% of employees.[16]In theUnited States,wages for most workers are set bymarket forces,or else bycollective bargaining,where alabor unionnegotiates on the workers' behalf. TheFair Labor Standards Actestablishes a minimum wage at the federal level that all states must abide by, among other provisions. Fourteen states and a number of cities have set their ownminimum wagerates that are higher than the federal level. For certain federal or state government contacts, employers must pay the so-calledprevailing wageas determined according to theDavis–Bacon Actor its state equivalent. Activists have undertaken to promote the idea of aliving wage ratewhich account for living expenses and other basic necessities, setting the living wage rate much higher than currentminimum wage lawsrequire. The minimum wage rate is there to protect the well being of the working class.[17]

Aheat mapof the United States byliving wagefor a single, childless individual according to theMITliving wage calculator as of 2023[18]
$15–15.99
$16.00–16.99
$17.00–17.99
$18.00–18.99
$19.00–19.99
$20+

In the second quarter of 2022, the total U.S. labor costs grew up 5.2% year over year, the highest growth since the starting point of the serie in 2001.[19]

Definitions

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For purposes of federal income tax withholding, 26 U.S.C. § 3401(a) defines the term "wages" specifically for chapter 24 of theInternal Revenue Code:

"For purposes of this chapter, the term “wages” means all remuneration (other than fees paid to a public official) for services performed by anemployeefor his employer, including the cash value of all remuneration (including benefits) paid in any medium other than cash; "In addition to requiring that the remuneration must be for" services performed by anemployeefor his employer, "the definition goes on to list 23 exclusions that must also be applied.[20]

See also

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Political science:

References

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  1. ^Finley, Moses I. (1973).The ancient economy.Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 65.ISBN9780520024366.
  2. ^Thompson, E. P. (1967). "Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism".Past and Present(38): 56–97.doi:10.1093/past/38.1.56.JSTOR649749.
  3. ^Dohrn-van Rossum, Gerhard (1996).History of the hour: Clocks and modern temporal orders.Thomas Dunlap (trans.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.ISBN9780226155104.
  4. ^Ezzamel, Mahmoud (July 2004). "Work Organization in the Middle Kingdom, Ancient Egypt".Organization.11(4): 497–537.doi:10.1177/1350508404044060.ISSN1350-5084.S2CID143251928.
  5. ^abFinley, Moses I. (1973).The ancient economy.Berkeley: University of California Press.ISBN9780520024366.
  6. ^Powell, Marvin A. (1995). "Metrology and Mathematics in Ancient Mesopotamia". In Sasson, Jack M. (ed.).Civilizations of the Ancient Near East.Vol. III. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons. p.1955.ISBN0-684-19279-9.
  7. ^Hammurabi(1903)."Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon".Records of the Past.2(3). Translated by Sommer, Otto.Washington, DC:Records of the Past Exploration Society:85.RetrievedJune 20,2021.234. If a shipbuilder builds... as a present [compensation].
  8. ^Hammurabi(1904)."Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon"(PDF).Liberty Fund.Translated by Harper, Robert Francis (2nd ed.).Chicago:University of Chicago Press.p.83.RetrievedJune 20,2021.§234. If a boatman build... silver as his wage.
  9. ^abHammurabi(1910)."Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon".Avalon Project.Translated by King, Leonard William.New Haven, CT:Yale Law School.RetrievedJune 20,2021.
  10. ^Hammurabi(1903)."Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon".Records of the Past.2(3). Translated by Sommer, Otto.Washington, DC:Records of the Past Exploration Society:88.RetrievedJune 20,2021.275. If anyone hires a... day as rent therefor.
  11. ^Hammurabi(1904)."Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon"(PDF).Liberty Fund.Translated by Harper, Robert Francis (2nd ed.).Chicago:University of Chicago Press.p.95.RetrievedJune 20,2021.§275. If a man hire... its hire per day.
  12. ^"Student Login".Edgenuity.– Education 2020 Homeschool console, Vocabulary Assignment, definition entry for "wage rate" (may require login to view)
  13. ^Magnusson, Charlotta. "Why Is There A Gender Wage Gap According To Occupational Prestige?." Acta Sociologica (Sage Publications, Ltd.) 53.2 (2010): 99-117. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
  14. ^U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics."Earnings of Women and Men by Race and Ethnicity, 2007"Accessed June 29, 2012
  15. ^ Asli Demirgüç-Kunt, Michael Lokshin, Vladimir Kolchin (8 April 2023)."Effects of public sector wages on corruption: Wage inequality matters".Journal of Comparative Economics.51(3): 941–959.doi:10.1016/j.jce.2023.03.005.hdl:10986/35521.{{cite journal}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^"Employees" as a category excludes all those who are self-employed, and this statistics only considers workers over the age of 16.U.S. Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2013-02-26),Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers: 2012
  17. ^Tennant, Michael. "Minimum Wage The Ups & Downs." New American (08856540) 30.12 (2014): 10-16. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
  18. ^"Living Wage Calculator".livingwage.mit.edu.Retrieved2023-10-02.
  19. ^Aeppel, Timothy (August 29, 2022)."North American companies send in the robots, even as productivity slumps".Reuters.
  20. ^USC 26 § 3401(a)

Further reading

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  • Galbraith, James Kenneth.Created Unequal: the Crisis in American Pay,in series,Twentieth Century Fund Book[s].New York: Free Press, 1998.ISBN0-684-84988-7
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