Piece-rate Wages Research Articles

Implementation Of Wage Unit Results In Meeting The Decent Living Needs (KHL) Of Batik Workers

Wage based on unit of output is a wage paid based on the production or quantity of goods produced by the worker, in this research, the amount of batik produced by the batik maker. This study aims to determine the implementation of piece-rate wages for batik workers, Pekalongan (Batang) area in Central Java and Cirebon, West Java to see the welfare of batik workers. This research uses qualitative methods with data collection instruments in the form of interviews and field observations. The magnitude of the poverty line and the average monthly per capita expenditure of the community at the provincial and city levels are indicators in determining the welfare level of workers. The results show that the piece-rate wages received by batik workers are higher than the city and provincial poverty lines, but still low when compared to the average monthly per capita expenditure at the provincial and city levels. Nevertheless, employers can determine the amount of wages below the government's decision if employers and workers have agreed. In conclusion, the wages received by the batik workers have not been able to fulfill the KHL of the batik workers optimally. However, batik makers are considered prosperous because they have fulfilled Article 36 Paragraph (2) of Government Regulation No. 36 of 2021 where wages in Small and Medium Enterprises, especially batik, have fulfilled at least 50% of the average consumption of the provincial community and at least 25% above the poverty line at the provincial level.

Surplus population in-situ

Abstract The article follows how migrant brick kiln molders are affected and adapt to short and long periods of suspension of work. In brick kilns near Delhi, involuntary idle time is revealed as an important modality of surplus extraction. While idleness is prevalent within many forms of work, idle time in the brick kilns operates at the intersection of other relations, namely, piece-rate wages, debt bondage, and capital's control over social reproduction space and time. It enables capital to flexibly move workers in and out of paid labor while extracting unpaid work and acts as an in-situ mode of rendering workers relative surplus population. Through enacting literal wagelessness and perpetuating wageless life, the article reads idle time as a time regime of capital, breaching and producing instabilities within workers’ life and leisure.

ANALISIS PENERAPAN SISTEM PENGUPAHAN BAWON PADA MASA PANEN PADI DALAM PERSPEKTIF EKONOMI ISLAM

The bawon wage system is a system using rice reaping wages, namely (profit sharing). the distribution of bawon is 20% profit sharing for Bawon workers and 80% for rice field owners, the wage system applied in bandar jaya village is 5:1. describes a problem by examining existing data in Bandar Jaya Village, Rantau Rasau District and then analyzing it based on the Islamic Economic Perspective. Using the data collection method, observation, interviews, and documentation were found. From the results of this study, it was found that: (1) in Bandar Jaya Village, the bawon system was considered a very suitable wage system compared to daily and piece rate wages. They considered the value of rice to be more valuable than rice. other than that money for rice that has good quality can be made as seeds. And for owning land the bawon system can reduce the risks that might occur, such as fraud and the quality of work and the bawon system also strengthens the brotherhood of mutual help between landowners and Bawon workers. (2) seen from the Perspective of Islamic Economics The "bawon" wage system that has been used by farmers in Bandar Jaya Village, Tanjung Jabung Timur District, is a rice farming wage system that begins with a work agreement, categorized as valid and justifiable, although there is an element of ambiguity in wages because it is not yet known the full yield of the crop. However, the previous rice field owner was able to estimate the yield he would get. With other considerations, the practice of the bawon/wages contract is valid according to Islamic law because it is in accordance with the rules,

Principal’s distributive preferences and the incentivization of agents

Do principals' distributive preferences affect the allocation of incentives within firms? We run a Principal-Agent lab experiment, framed as a firm setting. In the experiment, subjects are randomized in the principal or worker position. Principals must choose piece rate wage contracts for two workers that differ in terms of ability. Workers have to choose an effort level that is non-contractible. Principals are either paid in proportion to the output produced (Stakeholder treatment) or paid a fixed wage (Spectator treatment). We study how principals make trade-offs between incentive concerns (motivating workers to maximize output) and their own normative distributive preferences. We find that, despite the firm-frame and the moral hazard situation, principals do hold egalitarian concerns, as principals are on average willing to trade off their firm's performance (and so their own income) for more wage equality among their workers. The willingness to reduce inequality among workers is sensitive to both extensive and intensive margin incentives, which shows that principals' choices are shaped by incentives that they face themselves.

Incentives, mission and productivity

High-power incentives increase productivity through two distinct channels: attracting high-skilled workers and incentivizing high effort. We study experimentally how work mission interacts with these two channels. We construct “private sector firms” offering low base and high piece rate wages and “public sector firms” offering high base and low piece rate wages. In different parts of the experiment workers are either exogenously allocated to a sector or endogenously choose a sector in each period. This design allows us to disentangle and measure independently the sorting and the incentivizing effects. The addition of public sector mission attracts higher ability workers to the public firms and leads to greater effort when working in the public firms—while having no effect on average productivity, work time or average ability in the private firms. Consequently, the total productivity gap is diminishes by 30 percent. These results highlight the importance of cultivating a sense of mission in organizations.

RETRACTED: Agricultural labor market equilibrium based on FPGA platform and IoT communication

Increasing food demand in terms of quality and quantity is the need for industrialization and strengthening the agricultural sector. IoT is an upcoming technology that offers many innovative solutions to modernize the agricultural sector. Scientific research institutes and scientific groups continue to work hard to provide solutions and products that use the Internet of Things to solve different issues of agriculture. FPGA-based IoT (Internet of thing) systems are preferred as a source of communication in agricultural labor market equilibrium systems, for balancing marketability and flexibility in the economic sector. In the agriculture labor market, labor can be taken and given as a commodity. Agriculture performs these labor market equilibrium in a different application of non-farm labor markets, often relying on intermediaries such as contractors to market groups of workers and relocating them to the farm, using piece-rate wage systems to encourage workers and employers cooperating with the labor market. The economic market analysis is guided, and monetary boundaries influence the low and high performance of enrollment. Market Equilibrium conditions have been created to clarify the roundabout impacts of changes in money owed to the utilization of provisions. Labor market equilibrium models show the immediate and roundabout impacts of yield power, yield value, input use, and benefit of the rural segment on yield and salary approaches.

ANALISA BIAYA PEMBUKAAN LAHAN TANPA BAKAR DI DESA TELAGA LANGSAT KECAMATAN TAKISUNG KABUPATEN TANAH LAUT

This study aims to find out what PLTB methods are carried out by the community, know the wage system, know the costs, know the most efficient method. The benefits of the research can provide information about methods, costs, wage systems and efficient PLTB methods so that it can be applied to the people of Telaga Langsat Village, Takisung District, Tanah Laut Regency. The basic method of this study uses descriptive methods, conducting direct interviews with the community regarding the cost components needed in land clearing without burning.The results of the research on PLTB activities are the manual method of piece rate wages, for an area of 35 borong or 1 ha, the average wage payment is Rp.36,000,-/borong and the average piece rate is Rp.1,260,000/ha. The manual method of PLTB costs daily wages, the average cost per person daily wage is Rp.75,667,-/day/person, the average daily consumption is Rp.10,000,-/person/day. The average daily wage costs Rp.1,553,000/ha. The cost of the manual method equipment is an average cost of Rp.166,564,-/person. The PLTB activity is a chemical method for piece rate wages, for an area of 35 borong or 1 ha, the average wage payment is Rp.5,617,-/borong, the average piece rate is Rp.196,583,-/ha. The PLTB chemical method costs daily wages, the average cost of a person's daily wage is Rp.61,500,-/day/person, the average daily consumption is Rp.10,000,-/person/day, the average daily wage costs are Rp.201,667,-/ha. The cost of equipment and chemical methods of chemistry on average per person costs Rp.480,033,-/person. the activity of the PLTB mechanical method of piece rate wages, for an area of 35 borong or 1 ha, the average wage payment is Rp.23,619,-/borong and the average piece rate is Rp.826,667,-/ha.

The Effect of Unfair Chances and Gender Discrimination on Labor Supply

Labor market opportunities and wages may be unfair for various reasons, and how workers respond to different types of unfairness can have major economic consequences. Using an online labor platform, where workers engage in an individual task for a piece-rate wage, we investigate the causal effect of neutral and gender-discriminatory unfair chances on labor supply. We randomize workers into treatments where we control relative pay and chances to receive a low or a high wage. Chances can be fair, unfair based on an unspecified source, or unfair based on gender discrimination. Unequal pay reduces labor supply of low-wage workers, irrespective of whether the low wage is the result of fair or unfair chances. Importantly, the source of unfair chances matters. When a low wage is the result of gender-discriminatory chances, workers matched with a high-wage worker substantially reduce their labor supply compared to the case of equal low wages (-22%). This decrease is twice as large as those induced by low wages due to fair chances or unfair chances coming from an unspecified source. In addition, exploratory analysis suggests that in response to unequal pay, low-wage male workers reduce labor supply irrespective of the source of inequality, whereas low-wage female workers reduce labor supply only if unequal pay is due to gender-discriminatory chances. Our results concerning gender discrimination indicate a new reason for the lower labor supply of women, which is a prominent explanation for the gender gap in earnings.

Cash cropping worms: How the Lumbricus terrestris bait worm market operates in Ontario, Canada

Anecic earthworms such as Lumbricus terrestris are ecosystem engineers whose impacts on soil fertility and remediation have been extensively researched. The majority of L. terrestris used for such research and practical remediation applications are procured through the largely unknown bait worm market that serves freshwater recreational fishermen across North America and Europe. Some earthworm researchers have questioned the use of these bait worms for research and soil inoculations because of their untraceable origins, unknown environmental exposures and growing conditions, as well as the sustainability of harvesting practices. However, there has been no recent study of this unique industry and how it hand-picks hundreds of millions of L. terrestris worms annually from a single region in southwestern Ontario. This paper provides a detailed description of how land and labour are currently organized to supply the world market for the valuable L. terrestris, commonly known as the “Canadian Nightcrawler” bait worm. Based on 59 semi-structured depth interviews, the findings show there are an estimated 500 to 700 million worms picked annually from farmer fields that stretch between Toronto and Windsor, Ontario. Dairy farms in particular have emerged as de facto L. terrestris production sites because of their perennial alfalfa crops, heavy manure application, and reduced tillage practices. This has made L. terrestris the most lucrative crop in the region with many farmers leasing land to worm-picking operations for over $1000 CND per year ($750 USD/ €685) — approximately four times the regional rental rates. Worm-pickers have historically been recent immigrants to Ontario with the majority of current pickers coming from Vietnam. Worm pickers make $20CND ($15 USD, €13.50) per thousand worms, and can pick over 20,000 worms per night in optimal field conditions (moisture, temperature, wind, moonlight). The piece-rate wages tend to reward speed and efficacy with some pickers capable of making over $600 in a single night. This peculiar arrangement between dairy farmers, soils, and worm pickers opens avenues for socio-economical, agronomical and ecological studies of commercial L. terrestris harvesting.

The Effect of Unfair Chances and Gender Discrimination on Labor Supply

Labor market opportunities and wages may be unfair for various reasons, and how workers respond to different types of unfairness can have major economic consequences. Using an online labor platform, where workers engage in an individual task for a piece-rate wage, we investigate the causal effect of neutral and gender-discriminatory unfair chances on labor supply. We randomize workers into treatments where we control relative pay and chances to receive a low or a high wage. Chances can be fair, unfair based on an unspecified source, or unfair based on gender discrimination. Unequal pay reduces labor supply of low-wage workers, irrespective of whether the low wage is the result of fair or unfair chances. Importantly, the source of unfair chances matters. When a low wage is the result of gender-discriminatory chances, workers matched with a high-wage worker substantially reduce their labor supply compared to the case of equal low wages (-22%). This decrease is twice as large as those induced by low wages due to fair chances or unfair chances coming from an unspecified source. In addition, exploratory analysis suggests that in response to unequal pay, low-wage male workers reduce labor supply irrespective of the source of inequality, whereas low-wage female workers reduce labor supply only if unequal pay is due to gender-discriminatory chances. Our results concerning gender discrimination indicate a new reason for the lower labor supply of women, which is a prominent explanation for the gender gap in earnings.

Lower costs of care, improved discharge disposition, and improved survival of advanced cancer patients (ACP) receiving early inpatient palliative care (PC) compared to standard oncologic care (SOC).

11609 Background: Outpatient PC improves ACP symptom burdens, end-of-life care transitions, and mortality thereby enhancing quality of life. Yet, the financial implications, discharge disposition, and survival benefits of early, inpatient PC compared to SOC remains less understood. Methods: Retrospective cohort analysis of ACP receiving either PC or SOC between Jan 2015-Dec 2015 (N = 810). ACP cohorts were compared for demographics, costs, disposition, and survival. Financial costs collected included: fixed (overhead expenditures, facility maintenance, hospital property); variable (patient care supplies, diagnostic/therapeutic supplies, medications); operating (fixed, variable, breaking-even costs); direct (labor, materials, commissions, piece-rate wages, manufacturing supplies); indirect (production-supervision salaries, quality control, insurance, depreciation). Univariate and multivariate analyses were completed. Results: 468 were admitted to PC and 342 to SOC. Compared with SOC, PC were more likely to be: younger (61.1±13.2 v. 62.5±13.0, p = 0.02); African American (48% v. 36%, p = 0.0045); female (50% v. 40%, p = 0.005); and have shorter length of stay (5.7±4.9 v. 6.2±6.5, p = 0.01). PC had significantly less 30-day readmissions (16% v 23%, p = 0.03) and lower costs: direct ($9,478 v. $10,416, p = 0.01); indirect ($9,538 v. $10,999, p = 0.002); fixed ($10,308 v. $12,076, p = 0.001); variable ($8,709 v. $ 9,339, p = 0.02); operating ($19,017 v. $21,416, p = 0.003).Compared with SOC, ACP receiving PC were more likely to be discharged to: home (55% v.45%, p = 0.01); healthcare facilities (e.g. skilled nursing, inpatient rehabilitation) (36.1% v. 20%, p = 0.04); and hospice (home and inpatient) (7.7% v 5.8%, p = 0.02). PC had overall greater median survival from the time of discharge (106.8±99.95 v. 73.8±61.93, p = 0.03) compared to SOC. Conclusions: Early PC results in less financial strain, greater cost savings, and improved outcomes for younger and underserved inpatient ACP. Our results provide additional evidence for policies supporting that ACP access to routine PC must become a healthcare priority.

Cost of care, discharge disposition, and survival of advanced cancer patients (ACP) receiving early inpatient palliative care (PC) compared to standard oncologic care (SOC) without palliative care.

130 Background: PC significantly enhances ACP quality of life, provides symptom control, improves transitions to end-of-life care, and mortality. However, the financial implications, discharge disposition, and survival benefits of early, inpatient PC compared to SOC remains less understood. Methods: Retrospective cohort analysis of ACP receiving either PC or SOC between Jan 2015-Dec 2015 (N=810). ACP cohorts were compared for demographics, costs, disposition, and survival. Financial costs collected included: fixed (overhead expenditures, facility maintenance, hospital property); variable (patient care supplies, diagnostic/therapeutic supplies, medications); operating (fixed, variable, breaking-even costs); direct (labor, materials, commissions, piece-rate wages, manufacturing supplies); indirect (production supervision salaries, quality control, insurance, depreciation). Univariate and multivariate analyses were completed. Results: 468 were admitted to PC and 342 to SOC. In comparison with SOC, PC were more likely to be: younger (61.1±13.2 vs. 62.5±13.0, p=0.02); African American (48% vs. 36%, p=0.0045); female (50% vs. 40%, p=0.005); and have shorter length of inpatient stay (5.7± 4.9 vs. 6.2±6.5, p=0.01). PC had significantly lower costs: direct ($9,478 vs. $10,416, p=0.01); indirect ($9,538 vs. $10,999, p=0.002); fixed ($10,308 vs. $12,076, p=0.001); variable ($8,709 vs. $ 9,339, p=0.02); operating ($19,017 vs. $21,416, p=0.003).Compared with SOC, ACP receiving PC were more likely to be discharged to: home (55% vs.45%, p=0.01); health care facilities (e.g. skilled nursing, inpatient rehabilitation) (36.1% vs. 20%, p=0.04); and hospice (home and inpatient) (7.7% vs. 5.8%, p=0.02). PC had overall greater median survival from the time of discharge (106.8±99.95 vs. 73.8±61.93, p=0.03) compared to SOC. Conclusions: Early PC results in less financial burden and greater cost savings for inpatient ACP including for those who are younger and underserved. These findings provide further evidence for policies arguing that ACP access to routine PC must become a health care priority.

Effects of payment method on work control, work risk and work-related musculoskeletal health among sewing machine operators

This study aimed to identify payment method and its effects on work control, work risk and work-related musculoskeletal health among Malaysian sewing machine operators. The study sample comprised 337 sewing machine operators (male, n=122, female, n=215; aged between 18-54 years old; mean 30.74±8.44) from four different garmentmaking companies in Malaysia. They were being paid via time rate wages (n=246) and piece rate wages (n=91). Data was collected through Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire and pen-and-paper assessment via Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA). From the study, the piece rate wage group was found to take fewer breaks, had high work production demands, worked at a faster pace and experienced more exhaustion and pressure due to increasing work demands as compared to the time rate group. They were also observed working with higher physical exposure such as repetitive tasks, awkward static postures, awkward grips and hand movements, pulling, lifting and pushing as compared to those in the time rate wage group. The final RULA scores was also higher from the piece rate wage group (72.53% RULA score 7) which indicated higher work risks among them. The study found that the type of wage payment was significantly associated with work risks (p=0.036, df=1) and WRMSD at the shoulder, lower back, forearm, and leg (p<0.005, df=1). The musculoskeletal pain in these regions were reported more often by the piece rate wage group than the time rate wage group (At shoulder; OR = 2.94 with 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.39-6.20, at lower back OR = 3.16 with 95% CI: 1.74-5.74, at forearm OR = 2.55 with 95% CI: 1.56-4.17, at hip OR = 2.49 with 95% CI: 1.52-4.07 and at leg OR = 2.97 with 95% CI: 1.72-5.15). It can be concluded that the type of wage system could be one of the contributory factors in a high prevalence of WRMSD and high ergonomic physical work risks among sewing machine operators. It is recommended that sewing machine operators are better off being paid via a time rate wage system compared to a piece rate wage system to reduce work risks and WRMSD among them.

The Effects of Performance Incentives and Creativity Training on Creative Problem-Solving Performance

I investigate the effect of different incentive schemes on employees’ effort and performance in a creative problem-solving task because current literature is divided on the effect of performance-based incentives on creative problem-solving. Using an experiment, I compare two types of performance-based incentives (piece-rate pay and fixed wage plus recognition) with fixed wage alone and examine whether creativity training can moderate the relationship between incentives and creative problem-solving performance. Extending the theoretical predictions from Bonner and Sprinkle’s (2002) incentive-effort-performance model to creative tasks, I predict that the effect of performance-based incentives on creative problem-solving performance will be more positive in the presence of creativity training than in its absence. In the experiment, 120 participants attempted to solve six problems requiring creative insight under time constraints. Creative problem-solving performance is measured as the number of insight problems solved. Significant interactions with training are found for both piece-rate wage and recognition. I find that, without training, piece-rate pay produces lower performance than fixed wage. With training, however, performance is higher under piece-rate pay than under fixed wage. Relative to fixed wage alone, fixed wage plus recognition has no effect on performance without training, but recognition generates higher performance with training. Findings from this study have implications for organizations that need creative output from their employees and are looking to use incentives, either monetary or non-monetary, to motivate superior performance.

Severe Air Pollution and Labor Productivity

We examine day-to-day fluctuations in worker-level output over 15 months for a panel of 98 manufacturing workers at a plant located in an industrial city in Hebei province, north China. Long-term workers earn piece-rate wages, with no base pay or minimum pay, for homogeneous tasks performed over fixed 8-hour shifts. Over the sample period, ambient fine-particle (PM2.5) mass concentrations measured at an outdoor air monitor located 2 km from the plant ranged between 10 and 773 micrograms per cubic meter ($\mu $g/m$^{3}$, 8-hour means), variation that is an order of magnitude larger than what is observed in the rich world today. We document large reductions in productivity, of the order of 15\%, over the first 200 $\mu $g/m$^{3}$ rise in PM2.5 concentrations. Starting at the sample minimum, the marginal effect of fine-particle pollution on output starts at about a 1\% drop per 10 $\mu $g/m$^{3}$ rise, declines over the observed PM2.5 range, and varies across workers (while appearing to adversely affect most workers). A back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that labor productivity across 190 Chinese cities could rise by on average 4\% per year were the distributions of hourly PM2.5 truncated at 25 $\mu$g/m$^3$. We also find reduced product quality as pollution rises. Our model allows for selection into work attendance, though we do not find particle pollution to be a meaningful determinant of non-attendance, which is very low in our labor setting. Subsequent research should verify the external validity of our findings.

Quitting and Peer Effects at Work

While peer effects have been shown to affect worker's productivity when workers are paid a fixed wage, there is little evidence on their influence on quitting decisions. This paper presents results from an experiment in which participants receive a piece-rate wage to perform a real-effort task. After completing a compulsory work period, the participants have the option at any time to continue working or quit. To study peer effects, we randomly assign participants to work alone or have one other worker in the room with them. When a peer is present, we manipulate the environment by giving either vague or precise feedback on the co-worker's output, and also vary whether the two workers can communicate. We find that allowing individuals to work with a co-worker present does not increase worker's productivity. However, the presence of a peer in all working conditions causes workers to quit at more similar times. When, and only when, communication is allowed, workers are significantly more likely to (1) stay longer if their partner is still working, and (2) work longer the more productive they are. We conclude that when workers receive a piece-rate wage, critical peer effects occur only when workers can communicate with each other.

Piece rates and workplace injury: Does survey evidence support Adam Smith?

While piece rates are routinely associated with higher productivity and wages, they can also generate unanticipated effects. Using cross-country European data, we provide among the first general survey evidence of a strong link between piece rates and workplace injury. Despite controls for workplace hazards, job characteristics and worker effort, piece rates workers suffer a 5 percentage point greater likelihood of injury. This remains despite attempts to control for endogeneity and heterogeneity. As piece rate wage premium estimates rarely control for injury likelihood, this raises the specter that part of that premium reflects a compensating wage differential for risk of injury.

Gender, Work and Wages in Industrial Revolution Britain (review)

Reviewed by: Gender, Work and Wages in Industrial Revolution Britain Eric Schneider (bio) Gender, Work and Wages in Industrial Revolution Britain. By Joyce Burnette. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Pp. xii+377. £55. This book is the most forceful argument to date that gender wage differences and occupational sorting during the Industrial Revolution were based on market responses to real differences between male and female productivity, not on gender discrimination or custom. Joyce Burnette argues that productivity differences between the genders can be explained by two key factors. Most important, men's greater strength gave them a productivity advantage over women in manual labor, which resulted in men receiving higher wages for their greater productivity. Differences in human capital between men and women also contributed to the gender wage gap. Burnette sees strength as exogenous to the economic system because it was a product of biology, and human capital as endogenous because men and women had different incentives to invest in human capital. Thus, women earned approximately one-half to two-thirds the salaries of men performing the same task for equal periods of time because they were less productive. This argument challenges earlier historiography, which has emphasized the role of ideology, gender discrimination, and custom in determining women's wages. Burnette argues that ideological concepts of "women's work" rarely limited the industries in which women could work. Instead, conceptions of women's work reflected natural and efficient occupational segregation and were later harnessed by male unions in noncompetitive markets to justify the exclusion of women. Gender discrimination did not influence wages because men and women were given equal piece-rate wages for producing the same goods. Finally, women's wages were not set by custom because they varied over time and were responsive to regional economic pressures. Burnette also argues that, in competitive labor markets, occupational sorting based on strength decreased the gender difference in wages by allowing women to specialize in low-strength industries where they could [End Page 195] be more productive. This was the most efficient outcome for women and the economy as a whole. However, women were sometimes excluded from industries where labor markets were less competitive by men's distributional coalitions, which used ideological and discriminatory language to justify their attempt to maintain higher wages by excluding women. This outcome was less efficient for women and the economy. Of particular interest to the readership of this journal will be Burnette's discussion of how technological change shifted occupational structure. Because hand spinning in preindustrial England required little strength, women had a comparative advantage and performed most spinning work. Even with several substantial improvements in spinning technology in the early years of the Industrial Revolution—the spinning jenny and throstle—women continued to dominate the spinning industry because these new technologies were not strength-intensive. However, with the invention of mule-spinning, a task requiring a great deal of strength, women were pushed out of the spinning industry because men had a greater comparative advantage. After men became dominant in mule-spinning, they created unions and successfully excluded women after the self-actor decreased the strength requirements necessary to operate the machine. Thus new technology that either increased or decreased strength requirements could significantly influence occupational sorting in the economy. I agree with Burnette that strength did create real differences in productivity between men and women, but these productivity differences could have had an endogenous as well as exogenous determinant. For example, Burnette too readily dismisses the influence of gender inequality in the distribution of food in the household, which has been shown to leave women in a weaker and less-productive state than men. Therefore, it may not be possible to remove gender roles and ideology from gender differences in productivity and wages, even if wages were determined by the marginal product of female and male labor. In addition, in order to definitively prove that wage differences were determined by productivity differences and not by custom, Burnette would have to show quantitatively that wage differences were greater for occupations where strength was more important than in occupations where strength was not important. This is a difficult task given the paucity and nature...

Planting the Nation: Tree Planting Art and the Endurance of Canadian Nationalism

Planting trees under a piece-rate wage scheme is widely recognized in Canada as a veritable national “rite of passage” for young,White, middle-class university students and travelers. Canadian artists Sarah Ann Johnson, Lorraine Gilbert, and Althea Thauberger have received popular and critical acclaim for their artistic representations of the “tree planting experience” in Canada. In this article, the authors critically examine tree planting art—and its reception—and argue that it constitutes the most recent incarnation of art that links nature and nationalism together in the Canadian context. Following Catriona Sandilands incisive reflections on nature and nationalism in Canada, it is argued that the artists in question, and their various commentators, enshrine tree planting as an obligatory passage point through which White middle-class subjects can access both the “pioneering” moments of the nation and the promised greener tomorrow of Canada’s future. The connections made by the artists between nature and the nation are by no means innocent, as the authors aim to suggest, but rather, rely on a liberal-individualist account of labor in which the social dynamics of gender, class, and race are erased.

The Labor Process Among Temporary Workers in the São Paulo Sugar Industry

The role of circular labor migration in the São Paulo sugar industry's labor process is documented using origin and destination level data. Examination of origin-level data from the Jequitinhonha Valley of Minas Gerais and a review of the historical development of the São Paulo sugar industry demonstrate the special conditions that contribute to this seasonal and highly repetitive flow of manpower. These data also help explain the prevalence of piece-rate wages in the cane-fields and the persistence of a well-developed labor brokerage system. Results show how a combination of structural conditions and employer and worker preferences combine to perpetuate a system of extreme worker exploitation and poverty.