A wage is an amount paid to an employee at a certain rate. It may be calculated at an hourly rate, or based on the quantity of work done (e.g. piecework), or calculated at a certain percentage of commission based on sales.

Often people who earn wages are paid a set rate per hour to work a certain number of hours per week. If they work more than this set number of hours, they are entitled to receive overtime, which means that their rate of pay increases. This is done as an incentive to get people to work outside "normal" hours, such as on weekends or public holidays, or for working longer hours in one day than normal.

Common overtime rates

Time-and-a-half: payment to a worker at $1.5$1.5 times their usual hourly rate.

Double time: payment to a worker at $2$2 times their usual hourly rate.

Double time-and-a-half: payment to a worker $2.5$2.5 times their usual hourly rate.

Triple time: payment to a worker $3$3 times their usual hourly rate.

In contrast, a salary is a fixed income that is based on a fixed number of working hours. People normally sign a contract with an agreed salary amount before they start working with a company. An employee may receive a weekly, fortnightly or monthly salary. The employee will receive the same amount of income each time period, regardless of whether they work more or less hours, as it is thought this will be averaged out.

A salary is normally written as an annual amount. However, it can be helpful to calculate how much money will be receive each week, to help set a budget for spending. Similarly, it may be useful to work out how much money will be earned in a year based on the amount paid fortnightly. So let's look at some examples of how to solve questions involving salaries and wages.

Remember

There are $52$52 weeks in a year.
There are $2$2 weeks in a fortnight.
There are $26$26 fortnights in a year.
Annually means yearly.

Note

It is more accurate to say that there are $52.18$52.18 weeks in a year, however in order to make calculations easier we will often just use $52$52
Similarly, it is more accurate to say that there are $26.09$26.09 fortnights in a year

Practice questions

Question 1

$Neil$ is $a web designer$ who runs his own small business. He charges an hourly rate of $\$145$$145.

On call outs between 5pm and 11pm, $Neil$ charges a time and a half rate. What is his hourly rate for callouts between 5pm and 11pm?
How much would $Neil$ charge for a callout between $6$ pm and $11$ pm?
On weekends and public holidays $Neil$ charges a double time rate. What is his hourly rate for callouts on weekends and public holidays?
How much would $Neil$ charge for a callout between $10$ am and $5$ pm on a $Sunday$ .

Question 2

$Han$ earned $\$53030$$53030 in one year, and worked an average of $25$25 hours per week.

What hourly wage did he earn, to the nearest $cent$ ?
How much would his annual salary have to increase by for his equivalent hourly wage to increase by $\$4$$4?

Question 3

$Han$ 's annual salary is $\$32630$$32630. Calculate his fortnightly pay after receiving a $5$5% pay rise. Write your answer correct to two decimal places.

Question 4

Calculate the income earned for the following amounts of piecework:

washing $24$24 $car$ s at $\$10$$10 per $car$
baking $26$26 $croissant$ s at $\$7$$7 per $croissant$
sewing $84$84 $shirt$ s at $\$8$$8 per $shirt$

Question 5

$James$ is paid a monthly base salary of $\$500$$500 and a commission of $5%$5% of the value of the products he sells. Calculate his gross income if his sales for the month are $\$347000$$347000:

Outcomes

ACMGM002

calculate weekly or monthly wage from an annual salary, wages from an hourly rate including situations involving overtime and other allowances and earnings based on commission or piecework

3.01 Wages