ABSTRACT
A wage is a price; it is the price paid by one person to another on account of labor performed. The employer agrees to pay the workman so much per piece or unit of output, or agrees to pay him a sum certain per hour, day, week, or month. The one payment is called a piece wage; it is payment for the amount of work performed irrespective of the time expended. If the laborer is making bolts at a piece rate of 20 cents he would receive $1 for an output of five, $6 for an output of thirty, and so on. The other method of payment is called a time wage. If the employee is paid $3 per day, his pay would be neither more nor less, whether his output be five or thirty bolts per diem. All other wage systems, such as profit-sharing or gain-sharing, are combinations of time and piece wages.
