CHAPTER X - OF WAGES AND PROFIT IN THE DIFFERBNT EMPLOYMENTS OF LABOUR AND STOCK - Part 1 - Natural Inequalities of Wages

Sep 23, 2026

Chapter X discusses wages and profit across different employments of labour and stock, arguing that in a society with perfect liberty advantages and disadvantages should tend toward equality. Where wage and profit differences persist, they reflect non-pecuniary circumstances within jobs and the policy limits on freedom in Europe. The chapter divides into two parts and identifies five key conditions that offset small pecuniary gains or counterbalance large ones: the agreeableness or disagreeableness of work, the ease and cheapness versus difficulty and expense of learning it, the constancy versus inconstancy of employment, the level of trust required, and the probability of success. It illustrates these points through contrasts among trades and professions, linking cleanliness, honour, danger, and social reputation to earnings and profits.

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CHAPTER X

Of Wages and Profit in the Different Employments of Labour and Stock

Inequalities arising from the Nature of the Employments themselves

Natural inequalities: agreeableness, learning, constancy, trust, and success

Chapter 10,Part 1from The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith # CHAPTER X OF WAGES AND PROFIT IN THE DIFFERBNT EMPLOYMENTS OF LABOUR ANDSTOCK1 THE whole of the advantages and disadvantages of the different1 employments of labour and stock must,in the same neighbour-hood,be either perfectly equal or continually tending to equality.Ifin the same neighbourhood,there was any employment evidentlyeither⁹more or less advantageous than the rest,so many people wouldcrowd into it in the one case,and so many would desert it in the other,that its advantages would soon return to the level of other employments.This at least would be the case in a society where things were left tofollow their natural course,where there was perfect liberty,8and whereevery man was perfectly free both to chuse what occupation he thoughtproper,and to change it as often as he thought proper.Every man'sinterest would prompt him to seek the advantageous,and to shun thedisadvantageous employment. Pecuniary wages and profit,indeed,are every-where in Europeextremely different according to the different employments of labourand stock.But this difference arises partly from certain circumstancesin the employments themselves,which,either really,or at least in theimaginations of men,make up for a small pecuniary gain in some,andcounter-balance a great one in others;and partly from the policy ofEurope,which no-where leaves things at perfect liberty. The particular consideration of those circumstances and of thatpolicy will divide this chapter into two parts. [The general design of this chapter,as well as many of its details,was doubtless suggestedby Cantillon,Essai,pt.r,chaps.vii.and vii.The first of these chapters is headed:'Letravail dun laboureur vaut moins que celui d'un artisan,'and the second:'Les artisansgagnent les uns plus les autres moins selon les cas et les circonstances differentes.'TheSccond ends thus:'Par ces inductions et cent autres qu'on pourrait tirer de I'experience or-dipaire,on peut voir facilement que ha difference de prix qu'on paie pour le travail journalierest fondee sur des raisons naturelles et sensibles.']5[Above pp.58,64.][Ed r reads 'either evidently'.] (101) # NATURAL INEQUALITIES OF PART I # Inequalities arising from the Nature of the Employments themselver ¹ THE five following are the principal circumstances which,so far asI have been able to observe,make up for a small pecuniary gainin some employments,and counter-balance a great one in others:first,the agreeableness or disagreeableness of the employments themselves;secondly,the easiness and cheapness,or the difficulty and expence oflearning them;thirdly,the constancy or inconstancy of employmentin them;fourthly,the small or great trust which must be reposed inthose who exercise them;and fifthly,the probability or improbabilityof success in them. First,The wages of labour vary with the ease or hardship,the cleanli-ness or dirtiness,the honourableness or dishonourableness of the em-ployment.Thus in most places,take the year round,a journeymantaylor earns less than a journeyman weaver.His work is much easier.A journeyman weaver earns less than a journeyman smith.His workis not always easier,but it is much cleanlier.A journeyman blacksmith,though an artificer,seldom earns so much in twelve hours as a collier,who is only a labourer,does in eight.His work is not quite so dirty,is less dangerous,and is carried on in day-light,and above ground.Honour makes a great part of the reward of all honourable professions.In point of pecuniary gain,all things considered,they are generallyunder-recompensed,as I shall endeavour to show by and by.2 Disgracehas the contrary effect.The trade of a butcher is a brutal and anodious business;but it is in most places more profitable than thegreater part of common trades.The most detestable of all employ-ments,that of public executioner,is,in proportion to the quantity ofwork done,better paid than any common trade whatever. Hunting and fishing,th

FAQs

Why should advantages and disadvantages of employments tend to equality under perfect liberty?

If an employment is clearly more advantageous, people will crowd into it; if less advantageous, they will desert it. This reshapes advantage back toward the level of other employments when society follows its natural course.

What causes persistent differences in pecuniary wages and profit across Europe?

Differences arise partly from circumstances within employments that offset small or large pecuniary gains, and partly from the policy of Europe, which does not leave things at perfect liberty.

What five conditions offset pecuniary gains or losses in different employments?

They are: (1) agreeableness or disagreeableness of the work, (2) ease and cheapness versus difficulty and expense of learning it, (3) constancy versus inconstancy of employment, (4) the amount of trust required, and (5) the probability or improbability of success.

Sep 23, 2026

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