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How Much Are You Worth?

Complete the text with the right form of the missing words. If necessary, consult the GLOSSARY
Did you know that there are several words commonly used to 1. ________________ monetary compensation people receive to do a job? 2. _____________ is the most general word and it refers to the total amount of money that a company pays for work or services performed, regardless of whether its paid to full-time, parttime employees, or 3. ______________. A paycheck is a bank check given as salary or 4. __________. Also, paycheck is often used guratively to denote the amount of money you made. For example, you could say: Even if youre doing all you can to save money, you can stretch your paycheck only so far. On the other hand, a wage (or more commonly wages) is a payment for labor or services to a worker, especially 5. ______________ on an hourly or daily basis, or by the piece. In other words, if you 6. __________ workers to do a particular number of hours of work, or produce a number of items, then you pay them wages. Most often, wages are paid for manual labor, and not for professional services. It is also useful to know that 7. _______________ wage is the lowest wage payable to employees in general (so it includes wages and salaries), and it is determined by law or by union 8. _______________. The most common compensation for work is a 9. ____________, a xed amount periodically paid to a person for regular work or services. Usually a salary is paid monthly, although in some cases it can be paid 10. ____________. Finally, in case you hire a professional to do some work or perform a service for you, they usually charge a 11. __________. For example, lawyers in private ofces can have a regular salary, but what they charge you for their services is called a fee. Similarly, if your company hires a consultant to resolve a particular issue, then the company pays consultants fees. In this case the fees usually
PRACTICE

cover all consultants expenses, and not only the money the consultant earns for him or herself. In summary, a companys 12. _______________ is a list of employees receiving wages or salaries with amounts due to each. Wages are primarily paid to workers on hourly or daily basis, and a salary is a xed amount that does not depend on the number of hours employees worked or the number of items they produced, and it is paid monthly. However, the term 13. _______________ wage refers to the average earnings in, for example, a company, or a country, although it covers both salaries and wages. Finally, if you hire a professional, like a lawyer, or a consultant, their compensation is called a fee, while remuneration is general and very formal word referring to all sorts of 14. ______________ compensation you receive for your work including base salary, fees, bonus and 15. ______________ earnings as well as the 16. ______________ of a company car.

GLOSSARY
to denote pay a contractor oznaiti plaa vanjski izvoa posla ek za isplatu plae; plaa kao novana doznaka; zaraea paycheck ni novac wage(s) zarada po satu/danu ili proizvodu salary plaa remuneration novana naknada, plaa to hire someone unajmiti; zaposliti nekoga pay roll platna lista minimum wage minimalna plaa average wage prosjena plaa union agreement sindikalni sporazum biweekly svaka dva tjedna a fee naknada, pristojba monetary novani commission provizija benet povlastica
KEY Text: 1. 1.denote; 2. pay; 3. contractors; 4. wages; 5. remuneration; 6. hire; 7. minimum; 8. agreement; 9. salary; 10. biweekly; 11. fee; 12. pay roll; 13. average; 14. monetary; 15. commission; 16.benet Exercise 1 1. fees; 2. wage; 3. salary; 4. pay Exercise 2 1. Consultant services are an excellent option for solving particular problems, but fees for this type of work can be really high.; 2. In some western countries salaries are paid biweekly, but in Croatia it is common to pay salaries monthly.; 3. Average wage is one of the indicators of standard of living in a country.; 4. Minimum wages based on the union agreement are usually higher than minimum wages determined by the government.

Exercise 1 Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the following words: pay, wage, fee and salary. 1. Because of the law suit, last month we paid over 50,000 in lawyers ______________. 2. The minimum ______________ is far from enough for survival. 3. In some professions, the compensation is negotiable. However, most employers offer a xed ______________ to potential employees and they are rarely ready to negotiate. 4. Many manufacturers outsource parts of its business to reduce the overall cost of ______________ for its employees.

Exercise 2 Translate the following sentences into English:. 1. Konzultantske usluge odlina su opcija za rjeavanje nekih problema, ali naknade za tu vrstu posla mogu biti doista velike. ______________________________________________________________________________ 2. U nekim zapadnim zemljama plae se isplauju svaka dva tjedna, ali u Hrvatskoj je uobiajeno da se plae daju mjeseno. ______________________________________________________________________________ 3. Prosjena plaa jedan je od pokazatelja ivotnog standarda u zemlji. ______________________________________________________________________________ 4. Minimalna plaa prema sindikalnom sporazumu obino je vea od minimalne plae koju odreuje vlada. ______________________________________________________________________________