Skill alone is not key to a good pay packet

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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/23000

Title: Skill alone is not key to a good pay packet
Author(s): Legge, John M.
Abstract: The conventional economic explanation for the fact that different people earn different wages is a set of theories with no factual foundation, and those who advocate policies based on them are recklessly indifferent to the consequences. The facts behind the wage structure in a modern economy are well known and quite accessible. James Galbraith performed a detailed statistical analysis of wages in the United States and showed convincingly that wages did not reflect the skills of the job. Few jobs require as much skill and dedication as musical instrument making; and yet semi-skilled workers on motor assembly lines earn far higher wages. Workers in knowledge-intensive and capital goods industries earn relatively high wages, reflecting both the market power of their employers and the high cost of mistakes on the job. [Introduction]
Publication type: Newspaper article
Research centre: Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Business and Enterprise
Source: The Age, 29 September 2005
Publication year: 2005
Keyword(s): Accountability; Industry; Minimum wage; Salaries; Skills; Wages
Publisher: Fairfax
Publisher URL: http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/skill-alone-is-not-key-to-good-pay-packet/2005/09/28/1127804547442.html