66 Quotes About Wages



  • Author Ha-Joon Chang
  • Quote

    The widely accepted assertion that, only if you let markets be will everyone be paid correctly and thus fairly, according to his worth, is a myth. Only when we part with this myth and grasp the political nature of the market and the collective nature of individual productivity will we be able to build a more just society in which historical legacies and collective actions, and not just individual talents and efforts, are properly taken into account in deciding how to reward people.

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  • Author Thomas Sowell
  • Quote

    Someone with an inborn knack for mathematics or music may be just as productive as someone who was born with lesser talents in these fields and who had to work very hard to achieve the same level of proficiency. However, we reward productivity rather than merit, for the perfectly valid reason that we know how to do it.

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  • Author Ada Calhoun
  • Quote

    The Economic Policy Institute reports that the average hourly wages paid to young college graduates hit a new low in the mid-1990s. Graduating into a strong economy versus a weak one could amount to as much as a 20 percent difference in wages over time.

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  • Author Adam Smith
  • Quote

    A man must always live by his work, and his wages must at least be sufficient to maintain him. They must even upon most occasions be somewhat more; otherwise it would be impossible for him to bring up a family, and the race of such workmen could not last beyond the first generation.

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  • Author Elizabeth Cline
  • Quote

    Raising wages abroad would be good for the U.S. economy, as it would give our own industries a much-needed chance to compete.

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  • Author Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen
  • Quote

    Indeed, only what does not have a tangible measure can easily be exaggerated in importance. This is the basic reason why the privileged elite in every society has always consisted—and, I submit, will always consist—of members who perform unproductive services under one form or another. Whatever the title under which this elite may receive its share, this share will never be that of worker’s wage—even if, as is possible, it may be called by that name.

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