No

by Dossie M Terrell

Created on: November 16, 2010   Last Updated: May 12, 2012

It is impossible to determine whether the majority of people are overpaid without some objective criteria for measuring or comparing them to whom or to what.  There needs to be some type of system or assessment to quantify or calculate workers at company A against workers at company B who perform similar tasks.  This contrast must be made to match up the duties and responsibilities of workers at A and B.  What is the comparative pay scale? What are the conditions under which both work? If unequal, should there be consideration for disparities?

Are firemen, doctors, policemen, nurses, maintenance folks or teachers overpaid?  As all these folks have, at one time or the other, had a vital role in our lives, do we honestly believe most of them are overpaid? If they are overpaid, why are they overpaid and by how much? Compared to what?

Over the years, I have learned that it is easy to make broad and general statements, but like just about every aspect of life, there are contingencies that go beyond what is seen or observed. It is almost too easy to walk into a Wal-Mart or Target any day of the week and find one or two employees neglectful in their duties and make a determination that these corporations must be paying their employees too much because of the behavior of a few.  In truth, the majority of folks work hard on their jobs and, for the most part, their salaries commensurate their productivity.

What society has failed to establish is what makes for a comfortable existence and when that goal is attained, at what point does greed becomes the culprit? I believe it is safe to say in this economic climate that most folks are working hard to sustain what they have accumulated, no matter the size of such growth; they will probably find it ludicrous to think they are being overpaid as many are barely holding on.  

There is serious doubt whether many employees are being overpaid considering capitalism is an economic system that today relies heavily on the non-human input or the means of production to acquire wealth.  This approach to wealth has been intensified in this technological era. Employers would be foolish to retain and to overpay their employees, if they can get the same work done through technology. Corporations are in the position today to hire the best and the brightest and many are willing to pay top salaries to keep them on board.  Are these sought-after employees being overpaid? It is impossible to determine without engaging in the same type of measuring and comparing mentioned earlier in this article.

For example, if employees at local ABC Technologies, Inc., preformed tasks identical to those at Microsoft, but employees at Microsoft receive almost twice as much in salaries, are Microsoft employees overpaid?  Should Microsoft’s relative worth, brand and reputation be compared to ABC Technologies, Inc., when each constructs employees’ pay scales? There would  probably be a higher level of expectation from employees at Microsoft as it has international clients and is in competition with other multinational computer corporations, such as Apples with respect to business practices, entertainment, online services, servers and tools, etc. The example above shows, it is not always easy to judge something simply by looking on.

There must be some assessment criteria to determine whether the majority of folks are overpaid if the objective is to arrive at a rational conclusion. The statement as it stands is over broad and seems designed to appeal to emotions rather than to logic. Overall and relative to the economic environment, most folks are not overpaid.  To make such an assertion would imply that employers and/or corporations allow employees to set their own pay rates and they have no input in determining whether the work that is being done can be done most cost effectively by humans or by non-human means.  Most, I wager, would choose the latter as a means of production.

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