Wages and earnings
4.10
The recovery in domestic export performance has had a favourable effect on labour incomes. Largely reflecting an increase in overtime work, earnings of manufacturing workers, in terms of payroll per person engaged, increased substantially by 13% in money terms, or 9% in real terms, in June 1986 over June 1985. This compares favourably with the corresponding increases of 5% and 2% in June 1985 over June
(12) Average wage rates
in the manufacturing also increased, by 6% in money terms or 2% in real terms, between June 1985 and June 1986.
1984.
sector
/4.11
(12) While wage rates provide a measure of the price of labour, payroll per person engaged is a measure of per capita earnings. Wage rates represent the amount of remuneration for normal hours of work, and are defined to include basic wages and salaries, cost-of-living allowances, meal benefits, commissions and tips, good attendance bonuses, and night shift allowances. In addition, year-end bonuses and other guaranteed regular bonuses and allowances that are paid less frequently than monthly are converted to an equivalent monthly rate when compiling the wage rate indices. Total payroll, on the other hand, is the amount of direct cash payments that employees receive from their employers. Apart from the above-mentioned cash receipts, it also includes overtime pay and other non-guaranteed and irregular bonuses and allowances. Hence, statistics on payroll per person engaged tend to be more sensitive to changes in the number of hours actually worked, the timing of the payment of bonuses and back-pay, and the composition of the labour force. As a result, movements in wage rates do not necessarily conform with those in payroll per person engaged.
39