When Your Boss Pays by the Job — Das Kapital

Piece-wages look like payment for output rather than time, but Marx demonstrates they are converted time-wages. The piece rate is derived from the value of a working day divided by the expected number of pieces. Half of each piece still represents unpaid labour; the form merely measures time through quantity produced.

Because quality is checked against the piece, the form invites cheating, rate cuts, and self-driven speedups. Workers below the average output are dismissed; those above lengthen their own day to raise earnings. Piece rates reduce the need for direct supervision because workers police themselves.

They also enable sweating systems where middlemen contract work and pay less than they receive. Head workers can subcontract at even lower rates, so exploitation passes worker to worker. Individual earnings vary by skill and stamina, pitting workers against each other while surplus-value ratios stay intact. Historically piece-wages helped lengthen days and lower pay, especially in textiles. When productivity rises, capital cuts the piece price, provoking battles over whether workers or owners should capture efficiency gains.