General Category > Common Forum

caliber vs remuneration

(1/3) > >>

shibli:
Why do some occupations and professions command more money than others ? Is there a case for greater equality in remuneration ?

The question is an obvious one. We find there are professions which command more money than others. That is not the whole truth. Even in the same profession some get much more than others. The disparity in wages is so vast, that it has led to ideological war. This disparity is the main plank of the communist argument. In fact pointing their accusing fingers at societies where this disparity is highly pronounced, the communists are able to win the confidence of workers.

Granting there is such a vast disparity let us look for the causes which are many indeed. The following are the relevant causes. The qualification of the person, both academic and professional, name and prestige of the person, can be recommendations he could command.

No comment is needed on the qualification. The higher the qualification both academic and professional, the greater the chances of earning higher wages. A post graduate may be preferred to a graduate and a Ph.D to a post graduate. Theoretically speaking the higher the degree the greater the chances and hopes that the individual may know better. Hence the high wages. This we see in law, medicine, engineering, consulting, sciences and other professions.

Experience always counts. An experienced person is better any day than the fresh one from the school or institute, however high his academic distinctions may be because the field knowledge or first hand knowledge pays more than bookish knowledge. That is the reason why freshmen are apprenticed to an experienced person. The experienced knows where to look for trouble and knows also how to shoot it. In medicine, experience is to be preferred.

Now that there is so much of specialization and diversification, one who has specialized in a particular field is preferred. Thus we have many specialists. Lawyers specialize in several departments of law; so too doctors. Even among tailors there are specialists. If their services are needed one will have to pay more.

There are again special preferences. All lawyers do not make a grade; so too all doctors do not come up to the expectations. Naturally one chooses to have one who is famous. This is the case with many professions and jobs, so there is a special price to be given to the person chosen. In this sense everyone has his own tailor, cook, barber and washerman. If the choice is for best one has to pay more.

There are reasons when higher wages will have to be paid. Then as mentioned above recommendations decide higher or lower wages. If one is an MD's relative or kith and kin he is paid a better salary than the one who has no such relatives.

Is there a case for greater equality in remuneration ? Ideally yes; but practically very difficult to reach the ideal. For equal work, equal wage may be easy to preach but equality in remuneration is a far cry. Certain types of profession which demand strenuous preparations on the, part of the incumbent will have to be paid. A doctor doing a heart surgery and another opening an abscess cannot expect to receive same remuneration. An ordinary woodcutter and a carpenter though both of them may engage themselves in cutting wood must be paid differently because of the skill and intelligence involved.

The equality of remuneration is not obtained even in socialist countries. But one suggestion may be worthwhile trying. Every worker must receive a basic wage or salary and then an allowance may be paid according to the post one holds. It may not be agreeable. Some such thing is happening today, for what are perks if not special allowances for, merit or responsibility. Anyway the disparity between the highest paid and the lowest must not be high.

www.englishdaily626.com

shibli:
One of my classmates who completed BBA from Louisiana State University and MBA from Arizona is working at a pharmaceutical company(Aventis) at USA earns much less than a Masters graduate in Computer Science there. So, the demand of a subject in the market is also very crucial in the socio-economic perspective of a country. 

rumman:
Salary should be based on related  education, experience, sincerity, honesty, productivity and outcome of the responsibilities. And I think we should not consider nepotism, favoritism, as parameter and medium.   

sozib:
Dear Shibli Sir,

Thanks for your valuable post. I want to add something, You have mention  the salary difference at U.S.A. I want to give an Example at our country Prospective. 

I have found that gross salary of an Assistant Director of Bangladesh Bank is Tk.42,300 per month. Whereas, a BCS cadre officer will get Tk 17,750 per month only, the difference in this case is Tk 24,350 per month (if we add other benefits received by the central banker, for example, daily lunch bill of taka 150, and benefits accumulated from house rent, then this difference could be 40 to 50 thousand per month). But they have same quality of qualification. Does it sound convincing ? 

shibli:
No, it doesn't sound convincing at all. Maybe, the competitive salary structure of most private banks in Bangladesh and the complex or demanding nature of banking job have forced the respective authority to make such a high deviation between the central bank and other BCS cadres.  Whatever the reason might be, the bottom line is ....the deviation must not be there......

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page