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Fixed Wages, Piece Rates, and Intertemporal Productivity: A Study of Tree Planters in British Columbia

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Author Info
Harry J. Paarsch ()
Bruce S. Shearer ()

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Abstract

We examine the effects of different sequences of work and rest on the daily productivity of workers who planted trees in the province of British Columbia, Canada, comparing the intertemporal productivity profiles of planters who were paid either fixed wages or piece rates. We find that planters who are paid piece rates produce more, on average, than those who are paid fixed wages, but that the productivity of piece-rate planters falls with the number of consecutive days worked; the fall in productivity is between three and five percent. Fixed-wage planters, on the other hand, showed no such decreases.

Nous considérons les effets de différentes séquences de travail et de repos sur la productivité quotidienne des travailleurs qui s'occupent de plantation d'arbres en Colombie-Britannique. Nous faisons une comparaison des profils intertemporels de la productivité des planteurs qui sont payés à taux fixe avec celle des planteurs qui sont payés à la pièce. Nos résultats suggèrent que les planteurs qui sont payés à la pièce sont plus productifs que ceux qui sont payés un taux fixe. Pourtant, la productivité des planteurs qui sont payés à la pièce diminue avec le nombre de journées consécutives travaillées; la baisse de productivité est entre trois et cinq pour cent par jour. Les travailleurs qui sont payés un taux fixe ne démontrent aucune réduction de productivité.

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Paper provided by CIRANO in its series CIRANO Working Papers with number 97s-01.

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Date of creation: 01 Jan 1997
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Handle: RePEc:cir:cirwor:97s-01

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Related research
Keywords: Compensation Systems; Productivity; Rest; Recuperation; Systèmes de compensation; productivité; repos; récupération;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D2 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations
J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Marcel Boyer, 1997. "Competition and Access in Telecoms: ECPR, Global Price Cap, and Auctions," CIRANO Working Papers 97s-03, CIRANO. [Downloadable!]
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Oriana Bandiera (STICERD & LSE, 2004. "Relative and Absolute Incentives: Evidence on Worker Productivity," Econometric Society 2004 North American Summer Meetings 277, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Edward P. Lazear, 1996. "Performance Pay and Productivity," NBER Working Papers 5672, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Edward P. Lazear, 2000. "Performance Pay and Productivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(5), pages 1346-1361, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Lazear, Edward P., 2003. "Output-Based Pay: Incentives, Retention or Sorting?," IZA Discussion Papers 761, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  5. Edward P. Lazear, 1999. "Output-based Pay: Incentives or Sorting?," NBER Working Papers 7419, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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