Wages Исполнитель

Wages

Wages, in economic theory, price paid for labor. Wages consist of all payments that compensate individuals for time and effort spent in the production of economic goods and services. The payments include not only wages in the ordinary, narrow sense—the earnings, computed generally on an hourly, daily, weekly, or output basis, of manual and clerical workers—but also weekly, monthly, or annual salaries of professional and supervisory personnel; bonuses added to regular earnings; premiums for night or holiday work or for work exceeding stated norms of quantity and quality; fees and retainers for professional services; and that part of the income of business owners that compensates them for time devoted to business.

In the U.S. since the 1970s, the share of national income going to wages has been approximately three-fourths of the total, an increase from the 1939-65 level of about two-thirds.

Wages may be reckoned at time rates, piece rates, or incentive rates. Wage earners on time rates may be docked for days, hours, or even minutes of absence or idleness, but salaried workers usually received fixed sums for each pay period, whether or not they are continuously on the job. Workers on piece rates are remunerated uniformly for each unit output. Those receiving incentive wages are paid according to formulas relating output to earnings in ways designed to induce higher production.

A high rate of pay does not ensure large annual earnings. Construction workers are paid relatively high hourly rates, but their annual income often is low because of the irregularity of their employment. In addition, nominal wages do not reflect real earnings accurately. During a period of inflation the real value of wages may fall although nominal wages rise, because the cost of living rises more rapidly than monetary earnings. Deductions from wages for income taxes, social security taxes, pension payments, union dues, insurance premiums, and other charges further reduce the worker's take-home pay.