A wage is the amount of money paid for for some specified quantity of labour. When expressed with respect to time (usually per hour), it is typically called the wage rate, and is specified in pre-tax amounts. It is often the main monetary item upon which the worker and the employer focus when negotiating an employment contract.Early forms of wages included salt (from which the word salary is derived). In modern English, the word salary tends to be used when referring to employment in which the employee is not paid by the hour.
Depending on the structure and traditions of different economies around the world, wage rates are either primarily market-driven (the USA) or influenced by other factors such as tradition, social structure and seniority, as in Japan.
In the United States, as of 2004, the prevailing wage rate for manual labour might range from $10 up to $70 per-hour, depending on the type of work and its location.
Several countries have enacted a statutory minimum wage rate in an attempt to prevent the exploitation of low-paid workers.
See also
- Labour (economics)
- Employment
- Wage slavery
- Living wageLiving wage refers to the hourly wage that one deems necessary for a person to achieve a basic standard of living. In the context of developed countries such as the United Kingdom or Switzerland, this standard is generally considered to require that a per
- Working classThe term working class is used to denote a social class. The definition of the term "working class" is controversial, and depends on the politics and period of the person making the definition and on the society being discussed. For example, pre-war Briti
- Davis-Bacon ActThe Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 is U. federal legislation which established the requirement for paying " prevailing wages" on public works projects. All federal government construction contracts and most contracts for federally assisted construction over $2,0
Labor
