Current issue: 58(4)
It has been in Finland discussed to replace the present straight piece rate by a time rate in forest work. The low earnings of aged forest workers, the health hazards, its tendency to cause conflicts and considerable income differences are the main drawbacks of the piece rate and the proneness to increase the labour costs is the essential fault of the time rate mentioned in the discussion. One possible solution for these problems is an efficiency bonus (prevents the labour costs from increasing and decreases the income differences) combined with a bonus for age (guarantees high incomes for aged wage earners), a maximum efficiency standard (prevents health hazards), and a group incentive (prevents conflicts).
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