Piece-rate Research Articles

Do Minimum Wage Laws Affect Those Who Are Not Covered? Evidence From Agricultural and Non-Agricultural Workers

Some employers are not obligated to pay at least minimum wages to all employees. U.S. farm employers comprise one of these groups. Employees of large farms and H-2A workers (lawfully admitted, nonimmigrant workers performing temporary or seasonal agricultural work) are protected by minimum wage legislation, while some migrant workers (often those paid piece rates) are exempt. U.S. agriculture also is characterized by a large percentage of unauthorized workers who may or may not earn above minimum wage. Following insights from dual labor market theory and from theories of the signaling capacity of the minimum wage, we compare labor market outcomes in the agricultural sector (where minimum wage coverage is limited) to low wage/skill non-agricultural sectors (where minimum wage coverage is more complete) nationally using data from the Current Population Survey. We then extend our analysis to a detailed state-level case study of agricultural workers in California using a representative survey of employed farm workers. Results suggest wage increases for covered workers that exceed those for uncovered workers, but insignificant differences in hours worked. This is the first study to our knowledge to examine the impacts of minimum wage coverage on agricultural workers relative to other workers for the U.S.

“Is your gig any good?” Analysing job quality in the Australian platform-based food-delivery sector

This qualitative industry case study evaluates job quality in the Australian platform-based food-delivery sector, one part of the growing gig economy where workers, as independent contractors, engage in digitally-enabled and controlled work that is remunerated on a piece rate basis. Using a multi-dimensional framework, we draw on worker accounts of economic security, autonomy and enjoyment to assess job quality. This study posits that to achieve a more refined picture of job quality, both objective and workers’ subjective understandings of work need to be understood in the context of their respective ‘fit’ in terms of individual circumstances, labour market alternatives and the broader socio-political context. This multi-level analysis problematises individual accounts that risk overemphasising the positive elements of platform-based work. Moreover, rather than sitting neatly in a Post- or Neo-Fordist extension of job quality, the findings reveal that the gig economy is a new juncture in capitalist production, the consequences of which need to be taken seriously by regulators, scholars, workers and other relevant stakeholders.

Performance Pay and Productivity in Health Care: Evidence from Community Health Centers

Nearly half of high earning workers receive performance pay as part of their compensation, but we know strikingly little about the incentive effects of piece rate compensation on high-skilled workers. In this paper, we examine changes in medical providers' output in response to a piece rate compensation scheme. We use data from a Federally Qualified Health Center that changed from a salary-based plan to one that rewarded providers for seeing more patients on a monthly basis. Two key facts guide our empirical approach. First, the timing of the switch from salary to piece rates varied at the individual level depending on the provider's hire date, which allows us to control for other changes over time in patient demand for services. Second, most providers worked under both compensation schemes, which allows us to make within-person comparisons. We further address incomplete compliance by using providers' expected monthly compensation plan status as an instrument for their actual status. We find that providers working under the piece rate scheme see roughly 18 percent more patients monthly. Only a small portion of this difference is due to within-provider changes in output, and we find no evidence that the incentive scheme causes providers to become more productive. Instead, most of this difference derives from compositional changes in the workforce, likely due to increased retention of more productive providers.

Incentivizing Learning-by-Doing: The Role of Compensation Schemes

In this paper, we examine the impact of pay-for-performance incentives on learning-by-doing. We exploit personnel data on fruit pickers paid under two distinct compensation contracts: a standard piece rate plan and a piece rate plan with an extra one-time bonus tied to output. Under the bonus contract, we observe bunching of performance just above the bonus threshold, suggesting workers distort their behavior in response to the discrete bonus. Such bunching behavior increases as workers gain experience. At the same time, the bonus contract induces considerable learning-by-doing for workers throughout the productivity distribution, and these improvements significantly outweigh the losses to the firm from the distortionary bunching. In contrast, under the standard piece rate contract, we find minimal evidence of bunching and only small performance improvements at the bottom of the productivity distribution. Our results suggest that contract design can help foster learning on the job. This underscores the importance of dynamic considerations in principal-agent models.

Does Workplace Competition Increase Labor Supply? Evidence from a Field Experiment

This paper develops a novel field experiment to test the implicit prediction of tournament theory that competition increases work time and can therefore contribute to the long work hours required in elite occupations. A majority of workers in the treatment without explicit financial incentives worked past the minimum time, but awarding a tournament prize increased work time and effort by over 80% and lowered costs of effort or output by over a third. Effort was similar with alternative (piece rate, low-prize tournament) bonuses. Men worked longer than women in the high-prize tournament, but for the same duration in other treatments.

Does Workplace Competition Increase Labor Supply? Evidence from a Field Experiment

This paper develops a novel field experiment to test the implicit prediction of tournament theory that competition increases work time and can therefore contribute to the long work hours required in elite occupations. A majority of workers in the treatment without explicit financial incentives worked past the minimum time, but awarding a tournament prize increased work time and effort by over 80% and lowered costs of effort or output by over a third. Effort was similar with alternative (piece rate, low-prize tournament) bonuses. Men worked longer than women in the high-prize tournament, but for the same duration in other treatments.

Motivation and Incentives in an Online Labor Market

In this paper we present results from a large scale real effort experiment in an online labor market investigating the effect of performance pay and two common leadership techniques: Positive expectations and specific goals. We find that positive expectations have a significant negative effect on quantity - and no effect on quality - irrespective of how the workers are paid. On average, workers who receive positive expectations before they start to work, have a five percent lower output than those who do not. Goal-setting has no significant effect, neither on quantity nor quality. Performance pay, in contrast, has a strong positive effect on quantity, although we find no difference between high and low piece rates. Finally, we find no evidence of a multitask problem. Piece rates have no negative effects on the quality of work, even if it is fully possible for the workers to be less accurate and thereby substituting quality for higher quantity.

Latinx child farmworkers in North Carolina: Study design and participant baseline characteristics.

Although children as young as 10 years can work in agriculture, little research has addressed their occupational health. This paper describes a large, multicomponent study of hired Latinx child farmworkers, and the characteristics of children participating in this study. Survey interviews were conducted in 2017 with 202 Latinx children aged 10-17 years employed in agriculture across North Carolina (NC). Most (81.2%) participants were born in the United States, 37.6% were female, and 21.3% were aged 10-13 years. Most (95.1%) were currently enrolled in school. Thirty-six (17.8%) were migrant workers. 34.7% had worked in agriculture for 1 year; 18.3% had worked 4+ years. 33.7% worked piece rate. 57.4% worked in tobacco. Participants in western NC differed in personal and occupational characteristics from those in eastern NC. This study has enrolled a large and diverse child farmworker sample. This overview indicates several important issues for further analysis.

ANALISIS SISTEM PENGUPAHAN PABRIK TAHU DI POLUJU BAURENO BOJONEGORO DITINJAU DARI PRINSIP TANGGUNG JAWAB DALAM EKONOMI ISLAM

The provision of wages to all employees or workers is very important to prosper the surrounding community. One of them is the tofu factory in the village of Poluju, Baureno sub-district, Bojonegoro regency, which is one of the factories producing tofu from the processed soybean staple. The research problems are how analyze the wage system of tofu factory employees in Poluju village, Baureno sub-district, Bojonegoro regency; what is the analysis of the tofu factory employee wage system viewed from the principle of responsibility in Islamic economics by using descriptive qualitative research methods. Data collection techniques are through observation, interviews, and documentation. The data analysis technique uses Miles and Huberman. In this tofu factory, Mr. Sukanto uses a daily and piece rate system. Where both systems have been running from the founding of the Sukanto tofu factory to the present. In determining the wage, it is known by both parties, namely the employees and manager. In giving the salary, Mr. Sukanto is quite responsible because he has fulfilled several principle criteria of responsibility in Islamic economics. the principle criteria for responsibility in Islamic economics, are honesty, trustworthy, open to each other, and taking full responsibility for the wages of all employees.

Physical activity and common tasks of California farm workers: California Heat Illness Prevention Study (CHIPS)

Farm workers are at risk of heat related illness (HRI), but their work rates that contribute to HRI have not been objectively assessed. The CHIPS study collected accelerometer data and characterized the physical activity of major farm tasks. Demographic information, work characteristics, and accelerometer data were collected from 575 farm workers in California. Each participating worker contributed measurements over one work shift. An Actical accelerometer was attached securely to a belt worn at the hip. Data were collected at one-minute intervals throughout the work shift. A total of 13 major work-task categories were defined. The mean physical activity counts per minute (cpm) and percentage of the shift spent at moderate and/or vigorous levels of activity were described for each task. Multiple linear regression models were constructed to determine the worker and environmental characteristics contributing to the physical activity level. Mean levels of physical activity ranged from 700 cpm (workers who carry produce) to a low of 150 cpm “ground pruners” who tend low-level plants, with an overall mean of 345 cpm or “light” activity (2 to ≤3 metabolic equivalents). The environmental temperature was the major factor associated with physical activity. A 10°C increase in the median temperature reduced the mean cpm by 135 (95% CI = 87, 193). Age and the tasks of sorting, ground pruning, and harvesting low-level crops were also negatively and independently associated with mean cpm. Incentivized (piece rate) pay, multi-task work, and irrigator work were positively associated with cpm. An interaction was found between piece rate and sex. Men’s activity significantly increased (p < 0.001) by a mean of 95 cpm, (95% CI = 38.3, 150.7) if they were paid by the piece, but there was a non-significant association with women’s activity level. Workers conducting multiple tasks, irrigators, men, and those earning incentivized (piece rate) pay had higher adjusted mean physical activity levels and are likely at increased risk of heat-related illness on hot days.

Selection into self-improvement and competition pay: Gender, stereotypes, and earnings volatility

We examine whether men and women differ in their willingness to select into a contract that pays upon improving one's past performance. Experiment participants choose to perform a task under either a regular piece rate, or a larger piece rate provided they improve relative to a previous round. Women are less willing than men to select into self-improvement pay, and this gender gap is largely explained by higher risk aversion and (to a smaller extent) lower self-confidence. High earnings volatility widens the gender gap, and makes self-improvement pay less attractive than competition pay. We find no effect of gender stereotypes in the willingness to sort into self-improvement. The results provide insight into the feasibility and potential of using self-improvement contracts as gender-neutral incentive mechanisms.

A Profit Function Approach to Wage–Risk Differentials

A variable profit function is used in a novel way to estimate wage–risk premiums in Ohio bituminous coal mining. Unlike the dominant hedonic method, the profit function does not assume equilibrium and allows inferences about the marginal opportunity cost of accidents to mining companies. The profit function risk premium, expressed as a value of a statistical life (VSL), is $12,000 (in 1915 prices), and is below published estimates covering this period. The hedonic method is also used and yields a very similar VSL, a robustness check. It is also shown that the use of piece rate–based wages of coal loaders (the main group of miners) yields more plausible hedonic estimates than the fixed daily wage of “inside” miners typically employed.

Increasing productivity in SMEs Samiler crackers by implementing appropriate technology

This study was conducted on Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) Samiler crackers in Indonesia and aims creating designs of hygienic steamer and a scraper as well as testing the tools in order to ensure their performance, determine standard time, standard output, and piece work rate as the basis for designing incentive-giving policies. By using tools designed with appropriate technology such as stainless steel based material and using gas as production fuel, production capacity as well as the hygiene in production process can be optimized. The increase in productivity occurred at a decrease in processing time for scraping machines by 75%, increased production capacity by 300%, decreased fuel consumption costs by up to 43%, decreased processing time for steam engines up to 60%. The calculation results also indicate if the operator produces more than five products, it will get wages plus incentives of 1,049 IDR per additional product produced. Communication in designing the tools to meet the needs and function in the use becomes the key to secure the success in increasing productivity of SMEs. More broadly, the synergy between the government, universities and other stakeholders is believed to strengthen the position of SMEs at the national and even international level.

Simulation of Mechanical Behaviour in Milling and Polishing of Dental Polymeric (resin) Composites

Dental resin composites have a wide applicability in the dental field. They exhibit their own chemical composition that imparts certain physico-mechanical properties. The machining of the pieces of these composites must be sufficiently light, without affecting their strength. For processing these parts, respectively of the dental work, is used or carbide burs, or diamond burs, depending on the mechanical strength of the composite. To determine composite behaviour under action of the conical finishers was simulated their behaviour in specific simulation programs. As a result, stress concentrators may appear from the first processing which may affect the later resistance of the piece or dental work.

Mistaken wages: the cost of labour in the early modern English economy, a reply to Robert C. Allen

AbstractThis article responds to Robert C. Allen's reply to my new wage evidence for London, 1650–1800. The day rates Allen relies upon are not ‘wages’, and the evidence clearly points to a large difference between existing estimates and actual wages earned. His use of the piece rate in understanding earnings is significant, but cannot support a ‘high wage’ thesis. International comparisons that take new evidence into account do not show English wages to be any higher than elsewhere in Europe.

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN MOTIVATIONAL CROWDING OUT OF WORK PERFORMANCE

This paper shows that prior financial incentives induce a crowding‐out effect when incentives are discontinued. In our real‐effort experiment workers receive a piece rate before monetary incentives are substituted by a one‐time payment. In this case, workers' performance significantly drops when receiving the one‐time payment. The effect is driven by a fraction of men who reduce effort substantially, whereas women constantly perform well. We find that this motivational crowding‐out effect disappears when men do not have prior experience of a piece rate. In a series of control treatments, we discard several alternative explanations besides motivational crowding out. (JEL C91, J16, M54)

Piece Work And Feminization Of Informal Economy: Case Study Of Cholistani Women

It is an accepted reality that woman plays an important part in the economic growth of a society. It has been well documented that there has been a steady decline in the low paid formal sector jobs for women, while the prevalence of low paid informal sector jobs are on the rise. Women’s contribution in the production process as principal producer of food products and services along with reproducers and managers of labor power, is crucial for the existence and maintenance of a social structure. The gradual political and economic integration of pastoral community of Cholistan desert into larger national economies has stimulated distinct divisions based on access to wealth and other resources among Cholistani pastoral nomads. The study utilized qualitative research method to explore the experiences of women involved in piece work production, in order to examine how various gender related ideologies in the communities had relegated women to lower tiers of the paid economic activities. Results were based on the information obtained from 10 women home based workers, supplemented with a focus group discussion and the narratives of 2 representatives of shop keepers. On the basis of thematic analysis it was concluded that the sexual division of labor within the work force of Cholistani community was not created by market economy, but it did create a system in which pre-existing gender distinctions were reproduced in the wage labor system.

Incentive Magnitude, Reference Point Shifting and Intrinsic Motivation: A Laboratory Experiment

Despite the fact that much research has been devoted to understanding the effect of performance-contingent monetary incentives on individuals’ effort provision, little attention has been dedicated toward understanding whether a sequence of changes in the amount of piece rate an individual receives affects performance. In this paper we examine how effort provision of participants varies in a three-period laboratory setting in which different performance based compensation schemes are implemented for two differentiated tasks. The first task, consisting of downward counting from a big number while each time subtracting a fixed quantity, is considered relatively more challenging, while the second task consisting of counting the number of A’s in a paragraph is considered relatively less challenging. Our findings are as follows: (1) Performance contingent incentives affect participants’ effort provision. (2) The effect is task dependent and it is much stronger for the less challenging task. (3) A unique increase in the amount of piece rate leads to an increase in performance only in the less challenging task. (4) A decrease in piece rate incentive negatively affects subjects’ performance on both tasks, but only provided that the decrease follows a previous increase.

Quality contracts with the supplier’s private product manufacturability information

Abstract In the production outsourcing environment, the manufacturer may also outsource the product design to the supplier. In this case, the supplier determines not only the quality effort during the manufacturing process but also the ease degree of production, which comes into being during the product design process and is referred to as product manufacturability. Both the manufacturing effort and the product manufacturability (either low- or high-type) may be the supplier’s private information. In this paper, we examine the manufacturer’s separating equilibrium piece rate quality contract (the quality penalty is based on the supplier’s absolute quality performance) and tournament quality contract (the quality penalty is based on relative performance) under asymmetric product manufacturability information. With the piece rate quality contract, the supplier with low-type product manufacturability exerts a lower manufacturing effort than the first-best level and obtains the reservation payoff, while the high-type supplier spends the first-best effort and earns a positive information rent. By contrast, with the tournament quality contract, the low-type supplier obtains an information rent, while the high-type supplier only gets the reservation payoff. Finally, we find that the manufacturer prefers the piece rate (tournament) quality contract when the manufacturer believes the supplier is high-type with a low (high) probability by a numerical example.

An eco-friendly catalytic system for multicomponent, one-pot synthesis of novel spiro-chromeno indoline-triones and their anti-prostate cancer potentials evaluated via alkaline phosphatase inhibition mechanism

A green and efficient straightforward tactic for the one-pot regioselective synthesis of novel 10,10-dimethyl-9,10,11,11a-tetrahydro-6H-spiro[chromeno[4,3–b]chromene-7,3′-indoline]-2′,6,8 (7aH) -triones (4a-n) in one-pot modus has been established using eco-friendly p-toluenesulphonic acid as catalyst. Among the solvents that were used for synthesis, 4a-n were suitably synthesized with maximum yield (90–98%) in water. We avoided column purification and the formed by-product in the process is environmental-friendly. Hence, this reaction may consider as an astonishing piece work in this study, why because, the reaction mechanism that depends on the nature of the group attached to the isatin ring nitrogen atom. The main advantage of this protocol includes short reaction time, good yield, easy to work-up, practical simplicity, high regioselectivity and reduced pollutant, cost and avoids tedious purification. These pharmaceutically important compounds (4a-n) were recognized for their alkaline phosphatase inhibition and prostate cancer medication capabilities. The selective activity relation between alkaline phosphatase and prostate cancer was unveiled through the interaction of 4a-n to Human alkaline phosphatase (PDB ID: 1EW2).