ABSTRACT
workpeople give attention not only to the amount of their own wages but to the relation between their wages and those of other workpeople in their own undertaking and industry and of workpeople in other industries. Indeed, as there is no absolute criterion for deciding whether wages are fair, workpeople tend to judge fairness by comparing their wages with those of other workpeople. If workpeople in one occupation in a factory or industry secure an increase in wages, those in other occupations usually demand increases which will restore their relative wages. Similarly, wage increases in some industries lead to pressure for corresponding increases in other industries. Thus, there is a powerful tendency for wage ratios which have become customary in the past to persist, and frequently when wage changes are negotiated collectively for an industry or undertaking the same percentages are applied to all occupations, leaving relative wages unchanged.
