Work, Labor & Wages

We have seen in the introductory chapter that one of the ways of earning an income is by earning wages either on a daily or hourly basis. We use the term salary when it is paid on a monthly basis with some flexibility regarding the hours of work. Otherwise we call it as wages.

The wages are denoted by Rs per hour or Rs per day. A painter who comes to paint our house may be paid on a daily basis. A carpenter who comes to repair a particular piece of furniture may be paid on an hourly basis.

The calculation of the wages paid is a simple multiplication – Wages = Rate X Time Taken.

If the carpenter charges Rs 200 per hour and he takes 3 hours to complete the job, then his wages would be 200 X 3 i.e Rs 600.

If a painter charges Rs 600 per day and works for 2 days then his wages would be 600 X 2 I.e Rs 1,200.

Work & Time Taken

We have already seen that if the amount of work is fixed then the number of workers and the time taken to complete the work are inversely proportional.

Combining Worker Problems

Frequently there would be problems where 2 different workers have to work together to complete a work. They also have different rates of work.