INTRODUCTION
The main objective of this work is to study the issue of wages, since this is an issue of importance not only for economists and industrialists (employers), but also for workers.
For its development, the work is divided into three chapters. In the first, the different theories on the subject will be examined. In the second, some aspects of salary regulations (comprehensive salary, minimum salary, etc.) will be appreciated. Finally, the concept of the administration of wages within organizations will be developed, as well as the relation wages - productivity in the context of the National industry.
1. THEORETICAL ASPECT
1.1 DEFINITION
Price of the work carried out by account and order of an employer. The concept of wages has evolved with progress and today constitutes one of the most complex problems in the economic and social organization of peoples. The wage imbalances are capable of causing the most serious disturbances (strikes, uprisings, revolutions, etc.). More than two thirds of the world population depend, for their existence, on the incomes that the work of another person provides them.
1.2 THEORIES ABOUT WAGES
Through the times different theses have arisen around wages, all of them have been imperfect and insufficient to solve the problem, next we will examine these theories.
THEORY OF INCOME: It was raised by Adam Smith in his work The Wealth of Nations in 1776, in it he considers wages dependent on wealth. It considers that the demand for labor, that is, the increased occupation of workers, increases as employers or employers obtain increases in their income. For Smith, however, the most important factor in raising wages is not the amount of national wealth, but the continued increase in that wealth.
SUBSISTENCE THEORY: Also known as the natural wage, it was exposed by David Ricardo in his Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817). Regarding labor, he says that its natural price is the one that allows workers to “subsist and perpetuate their race”, without increases or decreases. In turn, the market price of labor is equal to the price that results from the natural play of the forces of supply and demand.
WAGE FUND THEORY: In his work Principles of Political Economy (1848), John Stuart Mill argued that wages depended fundamentally on the supply and demand of labor. For him, work was a commodity like any other, subject to the law of supply and demand, which was offered and acquired in the market, in which the supply made the number of workers able to work, while that the demand was formulated by the owners of the capital.
THEORY OF MARX: In relation to wages Marx found interesting things, which he captured in Capital; for example, what the employer pays the worker for his activity or service is not really the value of labor, but the value of his labor power. He also found that the workday is divided into two parts; The first he called necessary work time, where only production costs are covered and the worker barely obtains the goods and services necessary to subsist. He called the second additional value, in this the capitalist makes his profits, because this part of the work is not paid to the worker. The value of that unpaid work is what constitutes surplus value.
THEORY OF MARGINAL PRODUCTIVITY: The thesis of Jhon Bates Clark, aims to establish the relationship between wages and labor productivity. This relationship is governed by the law of diminishing returns, which says that if one or more of the factors of production (land, capital, labor) increases, while the others remain constant, the unit productivity of the variable factors it tends to increase to a certain point, from which it begins to decrease.
THEORY OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND: The leaders of the law of supply and demand, argue that the level of wages depends fundamentally on the supply and demand of labor. That is, as labor is plentiful, wages will be relatively low, whereas if it is scarce, wages will be relatively higher.
THEORY OF HIGH WAGES: Exposed by Henry Ford in 1915, his philosophy is based on the belief that high wages induce greater consumption, that is, they generate greater purchasing power on the part of employees and the general population. Obviously it is an inflationary thesis.
2. THE LEGAL ASPECT
2.1 CONTENT OF THE SALARY
Anything that involves remuneration for services constitutes whatever salary or denomination is given. It is therefore a salary, not only the ordinary, fixed or variable remuneration, but everything that the worker receives in money or in kind as direct consideration for the service (bonuses, bonuses, etc.).
They are not wages, the sums that the worker occasionally receives (additional bonuses or bonuses, surpluses from solidarity economy companies, representation expenses, etc.).
Nor do they constitute salary: social benefits, tips, or accidental per diem, among others.
2.2 CLASSES OF WAGES:
- In money or in kind: In money, it must be stipulated in national currency, in case it is in foreign currency, the worker can demand its equivalent in national currency. In-kind salary is all that part of the ordinary and permanent remuneration that the worker receives in consideration of the service, such as food, room or clothing that the employer provides to the worker or her family. Ordinary or extraordinary: The ordinary salary is The extraordinary is the one that implies remuneration for the work performed on days of compulsory rest or overtime or supplementary hours worked. Fixed or variable: When it is agreed per unit of time it is called fixed.By unit of work or level of sales it is considered variable. Nominal and real: The nominal is the monetary value of the remuneration of the work. The real is when the nominal salary is deflated.
2.3 DETERMINATION OF SALARY
It can be determined in several ways, namely: per unit of time, per unit of work and per task.
2.4 STIPULATION OF THE SALARY
The employer and the worker can freely agree on the salary in its various forms, respecting the legal minimum wage or that set in pacts, collective agreements or arbitration rulings.
2.5 COMPREHENSIVE SALARY
Law 50 of 1990 implanted a partial modality of the integral salary that consists of reducing to salary figures the sum of the ordinary salary and other remunerations with or without a performanceal nature, in order to have the result as an integral remuneration of work that excludes the separate payment of those remunerative factors. This agreement is voluntary, the monthly salary must be at least equal to ten monthly legal minimum wages, the stipulation must be written, it is not exempt from contributions to SENA, ICBF, and to the compensation funds, the amount of the benefit factor will be exempt from withholding tax payment and taxes.
2.6 IRRENUNCIABILITY OF WAGE
The person who is going to enter into an employment contract cannot commit to provide the services that are the subject of it for free; but once the salary has been agreed, it can be waived while the contract is being advanced.
2.7 A JOB EQUAL SALARY EQUAL
"Equal work performed in a job, working hours and conditions of efficiency also equal, must correspond an equal salary…" (ART. 143 of the Labor Code). Clearly, the norm indicates the factors to take into account to equate the salary based on a presumed equality of work.
The meaning of this provision is not only to perceive the salary unit, but to prevent the recurrence of the abuse that was being committed in the country, particularly in foreign companies.
2.8 BASIC SALARY
It is the one that is established, either in the arbitration ruling, in the collective agreement or in the collective agreement, so that on it the compensation of Sunday rest is paid and the social benefits proportional to the salary are paid, when this is not fixed in the time to end the contract. This kind of salary cannot be established in individual contracts.
2.9 PAYMENT OF THE SALARY
Payment is one of the ways of extinguishing obligations. Equivalent to the satisfaction of the provision due. Payment of the salary is made directly by the employer or his representative to the worker or to the person authorized by him in writing. It must be carried out where the worker provides his services, unless another has been stipulated in an agreement, payment is prohibited in "vice centers or recreational places, in merchandise stores or alcoholic beverages". The salary must be paid for equal and due periods, the payment of the supplementary work (overtime, for example) must be paid together with the salary of the period in which they were caused, or at the latest in the following period.
2.10 DEDUCTION, RETENTION AND COMPENSATION OF WAGES
The employer is prohibited from carrying out these actions, without a written order from the workers, or without a court order.
The law authorizes the employer to deduct and withhold by way of union dues, cooperatives and legally authorized savings banks, social security contributions, and disciplinary sanctions imposed pursuant to the respective internal labor regulations (the latter cannot exceed the fifth of a day's wages).
2.11 EMBARGO OF WAGES
Judicial embargoes cannot affect the legal or conventional minimum wage. The surplus of the minimum wage is only attachable in its fifth part. Only in two cases can wages be garnished up to 50%: for alimony and when it comes to favoring loans in favor of legally authorized cooperatives.
2.12 THE MINIMUM WAGE
"It is what every worker has the right to receive to subsidize their normal needs and those of their family, in the material, moral or cultural order."
It is mandatory, below it no compensation can be agreed; It is set by the government, after studying the cost of living and the prevailing macroeconomic conditions.
It seeks to give the worker a standard of living that is in accordance with his social position and with the nature of the activity that he carries out.
Lack of a reasonable balance within the wage structure of a particular plant can often be highly destructive to employee morale, and therefore production.
3. ADMINISTRATION OF WAGES
In some firms, good wages have been exaggeratedly emphasized as the key to successful staff relationships. Occasionally, some employer assures that "workers are only interested in the amount of their overpayment." The one-sidedness of this point of view has been demonstrated by recent research that clearly indicates that workers are not motivated solely by financial incentives. There are other goals and job satisfactions that are equally important, such as personal fulfillment, for example.
There are four main considerations that affect the determination and changes in the firm's general wage level: (1) wages payable for comparable work, in other firms in the labor market or in industry; (2) the financial conditions or situations of the firm; (3) the cost of living; (4) official regulations such as the minimum wage laws, or the official adjustment and settlement of disputes.
Wages paid for comparable work, in other firms in the labor market or in industry, may be the most important factor in determining the ceiling of a firm's overall wage level. The settlement negotiated with some key firm or key industry tends to set the pattern for other firms to follow. A few firms adopt the pay-better-than-average policy in the industry in order to attract superior quality workers. These firms are considered to be "wage leaders."
The firm's financial condition or ability to pay determines whether it can choose to pay at a higher level than the industry average, in an effort to attract better labor; stay in line with other comparable firms, or pay lower wages, possibly using other means to attract and retain good workers.
Changes in the cost of living should be considered as important in the administration of wages. If cash wages and salaries fail to keep pace with the rising cost of living, employees have cause to show dissatisfaction with the increasing difficulty in balancing their expenses. Considering this, companies must adopt "escalation" policies that are in line with the increase in the CPI.
Finally, official wage regulations, through minimum wage laws, place an absolute lower limit on the level of wages and salaries that can be paid by any firm subject to these laws.
The relationship between wages and salaries and good or bad internal relationships can be observed in the same way. In the whole field of labor relations, there is no simple factor that more undermines the morale of the employees, causes more individual discontent, encourages absenteeism, increases temporality and hinders production, than the manifestly obvious inequalities in wage rates. that are paid to different individuals in the same working group within the same plant. How can the above be avoided? By valuing work or jobs, valuing these inequalities to a minimum helps to establish acceptable internal wage and salary relationships. A well-developed job evaluation plan,It has clear advantages to achieve a more rational and consistent salary structure for the plant. If the rates for key jobs are carefully kept in line with market rates, for similar jobs, the overall level of wages will be more satisfactory for the firm. Finally, and very important when there are a number of jobs peculiar to the firm, the evaluation provides a means of determining, for those jobs, rates that are consistent with those of the most common jobs in the industry.and very important when there are a number of jobs peculiar to the firm, the evaluation provides a means of determining, for those jobs, rates that are consistent with those of the most common jobs in the industry.and very important when there are a number of jobs peculiar to the firm, the evaluation provides a means of determining, for those jobs, rates that are consistent with those of the most common jobs in the industry.
3.1 PRODUCTIVITY AND WAGES
It is convenient to examine the relationship between productivity and labor costs. These, over time, reflect changes in the productivity and income of workers, thus, for example, in Colombian industry taking the period from 1974 to 1978, it is observed that when productivity growth has been low and average incomes grow fast, wage costs accelerate. On the contrary, when productivity growth accelerates (1979 - 1991) the growth of labor costs is attenuated. (See box)
This means that in Colombian industry there was a gradual growth in productivity, while wages slowed and unit labor costs fell rapidly.
PERCENTAGE OF CHANGE. Anual average
| PERIOD | PRODUCTIVITY | LABOR COSTS | REMUNERATION |
| 74 - 78 | 0.48 | 3.86 | 4.37 |
| 78 - 87 | 2.73 | -0.27 | 2.45 |
| 87 - 91 | 6.23 | -3.96 | 2.03 |
Source: DANE. Annual manufacturing survey. Several years
Productivity growth has a positive effect on production costs, as they decrease, however, workers in Colombian industry have not maintained a share in this gain in labor productivity in recent years, in that the rate of growth of their remuneration has been much slower, especially since 1978.
CONCLUSION
The study of wages, both legally and purely economically, is something that affects us all, however we may be employers or employees in the future; and we must be aware of everything that is generated in this regard.
As a future business administrator, I will probably see myself in command of some workers, to do this, I must have very much in mind the basic concepts of the problem of wages, with this work, we have soaked in the subject and we have good bases to put them into practice in a future.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- BONILLA, Manuel. Prices and productivity wages. Santa Fe de Bogota. FESCOL. 1996. CAMPOS RIVERA, Sunday. Colombian labor law. Santa Fe de Bogota. Editorial Themis. 1997.DOBB, Maurice. Wages. Mexico. FCE. 1965.GONZÁLEZ CHARRY, Guillermo. Colombian labor law. Santa Fe de Bogota. Editorial Doctrina Ley. 1994.GÓMEZ VARGAS, Patricia. Productivity as a salary factor. Thesis. nineteen ninety five
