Wages, payment received by an employee in exchange for labor. It may be in goods or services but is customarily in money. The term in a broad sense refers to what is received in any way for la...

Living wage, the hourly wage that, at a minimum, supports a standard of living above the poverty level in a given locality. It differs from the minimum wage, which often provides a less than a...

Fair Labor Standards Act or Wages and Hours Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1938 to establish minimum living standards for workers engaged directly or indirectly in interstate commerce, in...

Consumers' League, National, organization designed to promote better conditions among workers by encouraging the purchase of articles made and sold under improved working conditions. The movem...

Macarthur, Mary Reid, 1880–1921, British labor organizer, b. Glasgow, Scotland. Working in her father's draper's shop, she became prominent in the shop assistants' union. As the representative...

Piecework, work for which the laborer is paid on the basis of the amount of work done. The system is best adapted to standardized operations in which quantity is preferred to quality. Its advo...

Jones, Samuel Milton, 1846–1904, American political reformer, known as Golden Rule Jones, b. Wales. He was brought to America as a child and worked in the oil fields of Pennsylvania and Ohio. ...

Labor, United States Department of, federal executive department established in 1913 and charged with administering and enforcing statutes that promote the welfare of U.S. wage earners, improv...

Labor law, legislation dealing with human beings in their capacity as workers or wage earners. The Industrial Revolution, by introducing the machine and factory production, greatly expanded th...

Lukashenko, Aleksandr Grigoryevich, Belarusian Alyaksandr Ryhoravich Lukashenka, 1954–, Belarusian politician, president of Belarus (1994–), b. Kopys. A graduate of the Mogilev Teaching Instit...