Wages and Salaries [closed]
What is the difference between Wages and Salaries?
Is it a question of manual vs intellectual jobs or more a question of how frequently payments are made, weekly or monthly?
The following is an excerpt from accountingcoach.com
Wages is best associated with employee compensation based on the number of hours worked multiplied by an hourly rate of pay. For example, an employee working in an assembly plant might work 40 hours during the work week. If the person's hourly rate of pay is $15, the employee will receive a paycheck showing gross wages of $600 (40 x $15). If the employee had worked only 30 hours during that week, her or his paycheck will show gross wages of $450 (30 x $15). Because the paycheck needs to be computed based on the actual hours worked, the employee earning wages will likely receive her or his paycheck five days after the work period.
Salary is best associated with employee compensation quoted on an annual basis. For example, the manager of the assembly plan might earn a salary of $120,000 per year. If the salaried manager is paid semi-monthly (perhaps on the 15th and last day of each month), her or his paycheck will show gross salary of $5,000 for the half-month. Since the salary is the same amount for each pay period, the salaried employee's paycheck will likely cover the work period through the date of the paycheck.
There is no hard and fast rule about this, but generally professional, technical and white- collar occupations are said to be paid salaries, whilst manual workers are said to earn wages.
In Britain 'wages' were historically paid weekly, and 'salaries monthly'.However in recent decades more and more wage earners have come to be paid monthly. Sometimes wages are calculated by the hour worked, sometimes by the amount of work done. Sometimes they are a fixed entitlement.
Usually wage earners get paid extra for overtime, whilst many salary-earners, especially more senior staff are expected to 'work the job' rather than the hours, and are not paid for overtime.