System of wages payments

The remuneration of labour is paid in various manners and under various names. It can be classified as follows:

(1) Classification According to the Class of Workers Engaged: 

  • Salary: If a person is highly paid, the remuneration is called 'salary'. For instance, the earning of a Professor, an engineer, a manager, etc., is named as 'salary'.
  • Pay: The payment to the middle class workers, such as typists, clerks, stenographers, etc., for their services is called 'pay'.
  • Wage: The reward which is paid to the inferior type of workers, whether they may be skilled or unskilled is called 'wages'.
  • Fee: Fee are the earnings of independent workers, such as doctors, lawyers, etc.

(2) Classification According to the Manner of Payment:

(i) Time rate Wages: If a person is receiving remuneration on the basis of a unit of time, i.e., daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly, the wages are named time wages.