The project speaks about the history of wages earned by Agriculture laborers, Government employees, Industrial workers, Laws made by government to regularize their wages, trade unions who fights for their rights, pay commissions.

1. PROJECT PRESENTATION ON
WAGES – HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
KAMBHAMPATI RAMA PUJITH
HPGD/ JL19/ 0685
SPECIALISATION: HUMAN RESOURCE
PRIN. L. N. WELINGKAR INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT & RESEARCH
YEAR OF SUBMISSION: JULY 2021

2. CONTENT:
■ METHODOLYGY OF STUDY
■ INTRODUCTION TO WAGES
■ PAY COMMISSIONS, GOVERNING LAWS, TRADE UNIONS
■ WAGE DIFFERENTIALS
■ WAGES OF WORKERS IN DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES DURING 1926 - 1957
■ WAGES IN MANUFACTURING, AGRICULTURE, GOVERNMENT SECTORS
■ LIMITATIONS
■ CONCLUSION

3. METHODOLOGY OF STUDY
■ This study is done by taking references from primary and secondary resources.
■ Primary resources such as Wikipedia for Basic definitions and statistics on wages.
■ Secondary resources such as websites, news online for to articles.

4. INTRODUCTION TO WAGES
■ Wages or salaries are paid to employees in exchange for their work in daily, weekly,
monthly basis or based on agreement between employee and employer.
■ Wage paid to employee for buying basic necessities for survival for a family of 3
members is called Minimum wage.
■ Wage paid to provide the earner some additional comfort other than food, clothing and
shelter is called Living wage and is based on income of the nation and paying capacity
of the industry.
■ Wage which is above the minimum wage but below the living wage is called Fair wage.
■ Allowances, basic pay, incentives, perquisites, bonus, non- monetary benefits are part of
wages or salary.

5. PAY COMMISSIONS & GOVERNING LAWS
Pay Commission is an administrative system set up by government of India to determine the salaries of
government employees.
• Members of Pay Commission are some very senior government servants, economists, Supreme
court judges and people from different fields.
• Based on its research on market, inflation, and whole lot of financial things to suggest salary changes
for a particular time frame.
• Revised for every 10 years.
• 7 pay commissions came into picture since 1946.
Governing laws are Acts are set of rules and regulations passed as a bill by governments in order to
raise the standard of living, settling disputes, facilities for employees in industries or organisations. Few
acts are:
• Payment of Wages Act, 1936
• Minimum Wages Act, 1948
• Industrial disputes Act, 1947

6. TRADE UNIONS
Trade unions are group of employees formed as an association, called as guilds in early
period, based on industry, occupation, region. AITUC(1920), Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh
(1955), the Hind Mazdoor Panchayat (1965), the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (1970) are
few trade unions in India. More the bargaining power of trade unions, better the results
gained.
Trade unions work against,
■ Poor working conditions,
■ Lack of respect and dignity,
■ Grievances not dealt with,
■ Neglect of workers’ health and safety,
■ Retrenchment,
■ Lack of opportunities to learn new skills.

7. WAGE DIFFERENTIALS
Wage differentials are defined as the wage difference or gap between employees based on
factors such as age, regional feeling, industry, gender, skills of a person, nature of the job,
capacity to pay, demand and supply of labour in market.
Gender based wage difference of where men
are paid 9% more than women
Region based average salary comparison

8. WAGES OF WORKERS IN DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES
DURING 1926 - 1957
Average daily earnings of worker in Cotton textile industry (male) is Rs. 2 An. 14 Ps. 2 (weekly Rs. 11 on an average) for weavers
in Bombay.
Average weekly wages of workers in Jute industry is Rs. 10 As. 11 Ps. 1 in 1928 and was the same even after 15 years.
Average monthly wages of factory workers was less than Rs 200/- during 1951 – 1957.

9. WAGES IN MANUFACTURING SECTOR
From 1960 –1980:
Daily wages in Manufacturing sector were notes as low as Rs 4.86/- in 1965 and were
increased up to Rs 347/- in 2014.

10. From 1980 - 2016

11. WAGES IN AGRICULTURE SECTOR
State wise -
wages
From 2014-15
to 2019-20
Wages of Agricultural labour increased from Rs 216.9/- to Rs 301/- in Andhra Pradesh from 2014 –
2020 where wages are increased by Rs 85/- which is very low when compared to cost of living
increased over 6 years.

12. WAGES IN GOVERNMENT SECTOR
From 1946 to 2008
Wages in government sector are revised by pay commissions and the wages are increased
from Rs 50/- to Rs 18000/- which is the minimum salary and the maximum salary was
increased from Rs 2000/- to Rs 2,50,000/- from 1946 – 2014.
7th pay commission in 2014 has raised minimum salary to Rs18,000/- and maximum salary
to Rs 2,50,000/-

13. LIMITATIONS
Even though wages are increased significantly over a period of time, there are limitations which
needs to be addressed and are as follows,
■ Acts being passed are not implemented properly mostly in remote areas.
■ Some industries which pay less salaries are not included.
■ Less awareness of acts among workers.
■ Less awareness about benefits, safety measures in factories among workers or employees.
■ Less bargaining power for small unions even they have better knowledge.
■ Unions tending towards political parties.
■ Existence of wage differentials primarily based on gender.
■ Improper regulations for controlling cost of living index or increase in prices of daily essentials.

14. CONCLUSION
Wages paid to employees increased in last 5 decades because of acts passed,
regular revisions by pay commission and safety measurements for workers increased
because of continuous monitoring of safety measures taken and facilities provided in
factories or industries to employees by regular labour inspections. But at the same time cost
of living is also increased significantly. Acts passed should speak about reducing cost of
living while increasing the standard of living. Dearness allowance which is paid to reduce
burden of inflation should be added to minimum wages as well. Decisions by governments
before passing acts should be taken by involving the employees affected by the act. Making
sure the acts are being applied to all employees fairly and transparently. Communication
between governments, employers and employees should be increased which helps
in maintaining prosperity of employees and their families.

15. THANK YOU