Editing Capitalism (section)

=== Wage labor ===
{{Main|Wage labor}}
Wage labor, usually referred to as paid work, paid employment, or paid labor, refers to the [[socioeconomics|socioeconomic]] relationship between a [[workforce|worker]] and an [[employment|employer]] in which the worker sells their labor power under a formal or informal [[employment contract]].<ref name="Steinfeld 2009 3">{{Harvnb|Steinfeld|2009|p=3}}: "All labor contracts were/are designed legally to bind a worker in one way or another to fulfill the labor obligations the worker has undertaken. That is one of the principal purposes of labor contracts."</ref> These transactions usually occur in a [[labour economics|labor market]] where [[wage]]s or [[salary|salaries]] are [[market economy|market-determined]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Deakin|Wilkinson|2005}}</ref>

In exchange for the money paid as wages (usual for short-term work-contracts) or salaries (in permanent employment contracts), the work product generally becomes the [[work for hire|undifferentiated property]] of the employer. A wage laborer is a person whose primary means of income is from the selling of their labor in this way.<ref>{{cite book|page=278|title=Concise Dictionary of Economics|isbn=978-93-5057-032-6|publisher=V&S Publishers|year=2013|author=Editorial Board|chapter=W}}</ref>