The rise and fall of piecework

Artikel

A pieceworker receives a fixed rate for each unit (“piece”) produced or action performed. In part, the rate reflects a cost of monitoring output. A timeworker receives a fixed wage rate per hour that, in the short term, does not vary with output performance. From the 18th century up to the last third of the 20th century these were the two dominant payment methods in the manufacturing and production industries. Yet, today the incidence of piecework in advanced economies is very small, having lost considerable ground to time rates and to other forms of incentive pay. What caused this transformation, and has the movement away from piecework gone too far?

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Journal: IZA World of Labor ; ISSN: 2054-9571 ; Year: 2016 ; Bonn: Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity ; Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials ; Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions ; Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
• Thema: piecework ; timework ; incentive pay

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Hart, Robert A.
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (wo): Bonn
• (wann): 2016

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: doi:10.15185/izawol.254
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/148479
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:42 MEZ