| This question <1657|1676> overall <1659|1661> Fidel: <1585|1669>. |
| Term Paper 821: Essay about Chapter Twenty-One: Piece Wages |
| [1660] Fidel and Tiny: Chapter 21 resubmission. Brandon |
| Piece Wages |
| In it's simplest form piece wages are payment determined by the number of pieces produced. On the surface it seems to be very different than the time wage where number of hours worked determine pay. This superficial difference Marx says should “receive an initial severe shock from the fact that both forms of wages exist side by side, at the same time” (p. 1519) Maybe these two types of wages are not so different. While giving the appearance of placing power with Labor the piece wage is actually the most beneficial to the capitalist. Piece-work to the uninitiated laborer seems great. The more one works with more efficiency the more that person is paid. The logic of working more to earn more money is simple and easy to grasp. Unfortunately that logic disguises the true nature of piece wages. The laborer who so happily accepts the piece rate as a way to earn more may not see the calculus behind the piece rate. This begs the question: who sets the rate? This question is and always has been a great source of tension between management and labor. Labor wants a true reflection of value while management seeks to suppress the wage. The conversion from time wages to piece wages will often involve statistical averages of production. Thus if on average one worker could produce one coat in one hour that coat then becomes a conversion for one hour of time worked. Marx says “that the difference in the form of wage payments in no way alters the essential nature of wages” (p. 1520) in other words it is still a converted form of the value of labor and is inherently irrational. |
| Piece wages have several peculiarities. By its nature piece wages ensure the quality of work performed. Inspection of work is a prerequisite to getting paid thus any production that has not met the standards will go without compensation. This Marx says leads piece wages to become “the most fruitful source of reductions in wages, and of frauds on part of the capitalists” (p 1524) In piece wages the quality of work is determined by the form of wage, thus direct supervision of the laborer is not necessary. This is a saving to the capitalist that takes its form in additional profit. |
| Another peculiarity of piece rate pay is that it makes it easier for “parasites to interpose themselves between the capitalist and the wage-laborer, thus giving rise to the 'subletting of labor'” (p. 1526). These people are the middlemen. A very contemporary example of this is new home construction. The general contractor acts as the capitalist. He/She is building a house for profit. Of course this general contractor will not do all the work and possibly will not perform any of the work. This contractor will “sublet” the labor to these same middlemen that Marx spoke of. In this case they are known as “sub-contractors”. These sub-contractors may perform some of the labor but, like the general contractor, they are most likely to not perform any of the work. This sub-contractor will contract with the general contractor for work performed at a piece rate. The sub-contractor will then pay labor some fraction of the contracted piece rate and keep the rest as profit. Thus the sub-contractor adds no value and becomes a “parasite”. |
| An additional peculiarity of piece wages is the incentive to work longer hours. Along with the additional hours the worker will pick up the intensity of labor. The longer hours will provide additional wages for some workers and others who cannot keep up will make less than under the time wage form. Through Marx's empirical studies he was able to determine that these differences cancel each other out. A modern version of this piece rate is the sales commission. Many people in the sales profession will work 60-80 hours per week. In the modern blue-collar world this does not happen. The seemingly higher pay of sales hides what should be the obvious exploitation inherent in a sixty-hour workweek. These long hours amount to a form of voluntary slavery. Marx discusses factory work and its monotony which one does not immediately associate with the monotony of sales work. |
| The piece wage is the ideal payment for the capitalist. It reduces labor to the lowest common denominator: production. For the capitalist it is much more efficient due to less supervision and guaranteed quality control. |
| Bibliography Cleaver Jr., Harry M. Economics 387L.18. Fall 2005. World wide web |
| eco.utexas.edu/facstaff/Cleaver/387Lintro.html |
| accessed November 23, 2005. |
| Marx, Karl Das Kapital, Volume 1. Fourth Edition, 1890. |
| Hans: Piece wages not only seem different than time wages, but they seem to be a payment of the value of the product. This is the misconception that receives a severe shock. |
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