Member-only story
The right wage
Most of us don’t only work for the money. But should that influence how much we get paid?
Many years ago, one of my daughters once asked me why everyone did not earn the same amount of money. Wouldn’t it be fairer if everyone just got the same? After all, if it’s someone’s birthday at school and they bring sweets for the class, they are divided equally among everyone.
I explained that not all jobs are the same. Some are really hard work, or unpleasant, or dangerous, or they mean that you need to work at night or over the weekend. People may not want to do a job carrying heavy loads all day, cleaning sewers, installing aerials on tall buildings, or driving trains at 5am unless they get paid a bit more than jobs where all you need to do is sit at a desk and tapping on a computer keyboard all day. And on top of that, some jobs are so difficult to do that there are not many people who can do them. An employer who needs such a worker needs to offer enough money, otherwise they will go and work for their competitor.
Working for free, but not for nothing
None of this will surprise you. But was that the whole story? As so often with economics concepts, once you start looking at the detail, things become a little more complicated.
