Income of Workers: Causes and Influences on Gender, Nationality, and Company Size

This research proposal analyzes the various causes and influences on the income of workers, including gender inequality, nationality, and company size. The literature review covers the importance of income, pay difference due to gender inequality, impact of nationality, and impact of company size and profitability. Research gaps are also identified.

Running head: Income of Workers 1
Business Research
Income of Workers

Income of Workers 2
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Project objective..............................................................................................................................4
Project scope....................................................................................................................................5
Literature review..............................................................................................................................6
Importance of Income..................................................................................................................6
Pay difference due to gender inequality.......................................................................................7
Impact of nationality on the income of workers..........................................................................9
Impact of size of company and profitability..............................................................................10
Research Gaps............................................................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................14
Appendix........................................................................................................................................17

Income of Workers 3
Introduction
One of the major purposes of an employee or a labor of a company is to earn an income in the
form of salary or compensation. The perception of productivity of work is distinguished into two
aspects such as individual productivity and organizational productivity. There are various
reasons embedded which affect the income of workers such as nationality, gender difference,
education difference, size of company and profitability. The main purpose of the research is to
evaluate the various aspects which influence the income of two genders. The research proposal
initiates with the different objectives of the project pursued by the project scope, where the
importance of the research is analyzed. The literature review section entails several concepts
vital for the research study and better understanding of the researcher. The gap will be analyzed
to define the various aspects regarding the income of workers. At last, the conclusion will be
drawn from the study of a research proposal which will provide a better understanding about the
income of workers.

Income of Workers 4
Project objective
The main objective of the research is to find out the causes which may affect the income of
workers. The incomes of workers are the major motivating factor within the organization that
enables the employee to do work accordingly. The objectives of this research proposal are
mentioned below:
 To investigate the importance of income from the point of view of employees or labors.
 To analyze the causes that may affect the income of workers significantly.
 To assess the influence of benefits on employee performance within the organization.

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Project scope
The scope of the research topic is wide because it has several aspects that affect the income of
workers. The project is determined by various regular authorities in the organization as it aims
to provide the the specific knowledge that incomes of workers keep huge importance for
improving the productivity. The research proposal will cover the gap that has discussed at the
end of the literature review.

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Literature review
According to Zander, Botzen, Oppermann, Kjellstrom and Garnett, (2015), it has been found
that the demographic characteristics are linked with dissimilarity in returns to investments in
education and one of these is gender. Lips, (2013) suggested that it can be seen in various areas
of the world that women are getting lower wages in comparison of men even though they are
working in the organization for full time and similarly educated. It has been mentioned by
Chandra, Jimenez and Radhakrishnan, (2017), that the main reason behind earning less in
comparison of men is gender roles in family responsibilities such as women are more likely to
take time for caring her family. They also advocate that women should be concentrated in low
paying fields of study and less focused in higher demands areas like engineering. There is
another factor of affecting the income of workers. The age of an individual can have an influence
on returns to education. There are major two folds in age and earnings where age shows the
many potential years of experience in the market for labor. Due to fewer experience in working
in comparison of older counterparts, younger workers tend to command lower earnings
(Schofield, et. al., 2015).
Importance of Income
The income of workers has huge importance in the organization as it is able to increase the
productivity of the workers through direct incentives effects. It encourages them to work more in
an organization but due to discrimination at workplace, workers are distracted from the work and
started to explore new opportunities which influence the revenues of the organization. It has been
described by O’Reilly, Smith, Deakin and Burchell, (2015), that the productivity of the worker
increases with switches to piece rate payments with effects of worker sorting. Wages are

Income of Workers 7
considered as the primary source which includes smaller sources such as investment income,
government aid. High wages of workers would be benefitted for them as they can live their lives
in lavish ways, on the other hand, they can fulfill the basic needs of lives. There are so many
companies that adopt good compensation philosophy to attract motivate and retain employees.
The companies are using a mixture of three components to complete the goals of the company
that involves basic pay also referred as salary, benefits, and non-financial rewards. A pay
philosophy is a mixture of all three components as discussed above since the company should
pay for whatever it provides to employees.
The flexibilities in wages are the major topic of the economy which can be easily found in the
literature regarding the provisions of incentives given by the company. There is various
theoretical models support company to define that how the company should make different
schemes to motivate an employee for increasing the revenues (Lips, 2013). The income of
workers is the most advantageous factor that contributes to the revenues of the companies. There
are many companies such as Westpac Australia, Deloitte Australia, Land lease and many more
that give huge incentives to the employees which are the cause of good returns.
Pay difference due to gender inequality
It has been researched by Blau, (2016), that gender inequality and unequal pay are the major
concerns that are faced by female employees worldwide. It is vital for the companies to raise the
awareness about this concerns and it has been found that the consciousness is developing about
this concern between corporations but at a significantly slower velocity. There are various
reasons such as the unsafe workplace, racism, sexual harassment and unfairness in promotions to
a senior position. According to Friedman, Laurison and Macmillan, (2017), the gapping in pay
influence the entire backgrounds of women, at all ages, and entire levels of attainment of

Income of Workers 8
education, even though earnings and the gap fluctuate depending on the individual situation of a
woman. It has been found in 2016 among full-time workers that Black or African American,
Hispanic, American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander had lesser median earnings
annually in comparison with Asian women and non-Hispanic (AAUW, 2018).
There are women of Hispanic, Black, and AIAN who have smaller gender pay gap in
comparison to men in the similar group. Benchmark is the effective tool that is able to provide a
clear picture in a more informative way. It has been researched that female employees in the
entire world are facing challenges in the form of ‘gender pay gap’ due to get less salary for
similar work in a comparison to male employees. The role of human resource department in a
big corporation is huge to increase the discrimination as they do not allow female employees to
get promoted due to their personal responsibilities (Wilson & Tagg, 2010). According to the
latest report by Human Resources Director, the data of 2016-17 is provided by Workplace
Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) described that a large number of corporations has taken
various schemes to reduce the concern of gender pay imbalance. The director of WGEA stated
that approx four million employees are involving under this issue and enhance the awareness
about the gender inequality (Hilton, 2017).
As per WGEA, (2017), number of advancements occurred all over the world but the gender gap
can be seen in Australia. Recently it has been observed from the report that the gender pay gap of
15.3% in Australia still exists and the earning of male employees is higher than female instead of
having same positions and skills. The department of HR in different corporations have executed
policies to reduce the concern of gender inequality, yet still, a wide range of percentage of
women face discrimination at the workplace in Australia.

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Impact of nationality on the income of workers
It has been found by various researchers that nationality has huge influence on the income of
workers. It has been suggested by the literature of Peri, (2012), that immigrants who are newly
arrived might face many difficulties in the labor market of the Australian Country. For instance,
newly immigrant might have to face issues with the new customs and languages and due to lack
of connection with the people; they would be unable to find out the suitable job. It has been
analyzed that the qualifications and experiences have huge importance in the host country and
when newly arrived immigrant has overqualified in their educations and the qualifications of
immigrants are not identified in the labour market of the host country, it would certainly put
impact on the pay scale of the employees (Lindley, 2009). It would become vital for the
immigrants to learn the skills, languages and knowledge to live in the host country which would
be benefitted them to get higher salaries.
As per EHRC, (2017), to make the difference as per the ethnic pay gap instead of focusing
immigrant pay gap, the situation would be more diverse and complex. It is difficult to make a
comparison between dissimilar countries due to have dissimilar immigration histories. The
income of workers gets influenced due to different tax scale of the country as the newly arrived
immigrant has to face the issue of tax policy. Nationality can impact the income of workers as it
has been observed that due to being the part of the country. Citizens of the home country have
great confidence regarding laws and legislation of the country and due to effective knowledge
about the place and government, the salary structure of them is quite high in comparison to
others. The research has been conducted by Dias, Joyce and Parodi, (2018), in multiple countries
and found that the role of education is wider in comparison of any aspect because there is the

Income of Workers 10
affirmative correlation between the level of education and potential of earnings for salaried
individuals.
Along with that, it has been found that the national income plays the effective role in providing
the income to the workers. It has been analyzed that 2.3 million of workers of Australia are
lowest paid workers who get a $22.20 a week pay rise. The national minimum wage has risen by
3.3 percent from July 2017 (SBS, 2017). It has been analyzed from the news of Australia that
Aussies who work in the dangerous industry of Australia that is most likely to die on the
workplace but the income of them is quiet lower in comparison of office workers (Carey,2015).
These dangerous industries are shown in the appendix area of this research which shows the
average income and rank of these industries around Australia.
Impact of size of company and profitability
There are so many companies all over the world that are working under top rank companies
while some companies are not that much well known. It is apparent that the income of workers
can get influenced due to the size of the company and the profitability; it would not be possible
for the small companies to provide the higher scale of pay to the employee. The role of
profitability is necessary to pay the employees in the form of incentives or bonuses. There are
many companies that build the most profit per employee and certainly, the total income and
revenues of the company can impact the income of workers. There are most significant examples
of Apple Company that made over $45.5 billion in profits over its last fiscal year. The profit per
employee of Apple Company was $400,000 per employee.
It has been found from various incidents that the human resource department of modern
corporations is unable to reduce the impact of issues of gender inequality and unequal pay gap.

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There is a BBC Company where more than 170 woman employees are facing issues related to
unequal pay gap in the organization. In BBC Company, several female workers are getting lesser
income in comparison to men despite having same skills and capabilities of working (Kentish,
2018). Along with that, there are many other factors that may influence the income of workers
such as fringe benefits, the demand of industries and specified skills of workers. Google is the
company that provides the fringe benefits in the form of non-financial rewards which has been
added to the basic pay of the workers. It was apparent that companies of Australia need to
consider the skills and competencies instead of focusing on gender inequality. The world has
been changing rapidly and the contributions of female employees are huge in the changing
world. There is a number of female workers all over the world that has reached at top level of
positions such as Lynn Good (Chief Executive Officer of Duke Energy), Susan Wojcicki (CEO
of YouTube), Ginny Rometty (CEO of IBM). These examples are shown that women can do
anything in her life instead of having various responsibilities. The incomes of these women are
equivalent to men who have same position (Lagerberg, 2016). It is vital for the organizations of
Australian to focus on equal pay act that will be helpful to reduce the adverse impact on income
of workers due to inequality.
Research Gaps
The research gaps are analyzed on the basis of literature review which facilitates reader to
understand the significance of the research. The first research gap is the future of casual/part-
time workers and one in four Australian employees is casual workers. The future of casual/part-
time workers is not covered under this research which can be enlarged by considering the data of
Australia (AEST, 2017). Most of the research is evolved around the unequal pay but it can be
more discussed other causes which may influence the income of workers. The second gap is

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found under this research is the consequences of social economic, social and political factor
which should be considered under this research because employee rate, inflation, organizational
behaviour of the place affect the income of workers significantly (Buddelmeyer, Wooden and
Ghantous, 2007). The factor of higher and lower salary is considered under this research.
However, the higher salary is described for showing the inequality in gender despite having
similar skills in which various examples are elaborated in-depth manner. Another research gap
are found that researcher can focus on gender inequality by taking various different skills of both
genders which may put a significant impact on the literature review. The importance of income
can be researched in depth manner by the researcher to show the value of it in the life of both
genders.

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Conclusion
In the limelight of above discussion about the chosen topic, it can be concluded that the role of
income in development of organizations as well as the economy of the country is wider. It
facilitates to increase the productivity of the employees. It is essential for the corporate world to
understand that the unequal pay due to gender inequality can become an adverse situation for the
country. The world has been changing rapidly and the involvement of women in the
development of the economy of the country is huge. The literature review has been structured by
taking help of various journal, articles, internet sources and news to support the statement. The
strategy of Equal Pay Act should be embedded in the corporate world for reducing the issues of
unequal pay. The examples of various top companies have been emphasized to represent the
impact of company profitability and size on the income of workers.

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References
AAUW, 2018. The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay GaP. Available at:
https://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/. Accessed on 28th
April 2018.
AEST, 2017. The costs of a casual job are now outweighing any pay benefits. Available at:
https://theconversation.com/the-costs-of-a-casual-job-are-now-outweighing-any-pay-benefits-
82207. Accessed on 28th April 2018.
Blau, F.D., 2016. Gender, inequality, and wages. OUP Catalogue.
Buddelmeyer, H., Wooden, M. and Ghantous, S., 2007. Transitions from casual employment in
Australia. Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of
Melbourne.
Carey, A. 2015. Workers in Australia’s most dangerous jobs barely paid above nation’s average
wage. Available at: http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/at-work/workers-in-australias-most-
dangerous-jobs-barely-paid-above-nations-average-wage/news-story/
529435c6f14dd224aa36f9816d505f0f. Accessed on 26th April, 2018.
Chandra, S., Jimenez, J. and Radhakrishnan, R., 2017. Accessibility evaluations for nighttime
walking and bicycling for low-income shift workers. Journal of Transport Geography, 64,
pp.97-108.
Dias, M.C., Joyce, R. and Parodi, F., 2018. The gender pay gap in the UK: children and
experience in work.

Income of Workers 15
EHRC, 2017. The Ethnicity Pay Gap. Available at:
https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/research-report-108-the-ethnicity-pay-
gap.pdf. Accessed on 26th April, 2018.
Friedman, S., Laurison, D. and Macmillan, L., 2017. Social mobility, the class pay gap and
intergenerational worklessness: New insights from the Labour Force Survey.
Hilton, J., 2017. Is HR doing enough to address gender inequality?. Retrieved from
https://www.hcamag.com/hr-business-review/leadership-development/is-hr-doing-enough-to-
address-gender-inequality-244874.aspx
https://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/.
Kentish, B., 2018. BBC gender pay gap: 170 female employees demand apology over salary
differences and 'culture of discrimination'. Retrieved from
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bbc-gender-pay-gap-employees-apology-bbc-
women-nuj-tony-hall-select-committee-a8184306.html
Lagerberg, F., 2016.Women in business: turning promise into practice. Retrieved from
https://www.grantthornton.global/en/insights/articles/women-in-business-2016/
Lindley, J., 2009. The Over-education of UK Immigrants and Minority Ethnic Groups: Evidence
from the Labour Force Survey', Economics of Education Review, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 80-9.
Lips, H. M., 2013. The gender pay gap: Challenging the rationalizations. Perceived equity,
discrimination, and the limits of human capital models. Sex Roles, 68(3-4), 169-185.

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O’Reilly, J., Smith, M., Deakin, S. and Burchell, B., 2015. Equal pay as a moving target:
International perspectives on forty-years of addressing the gender pay gap. Cambridge Journal
of Economics, 39(2), pp.299-317.
Peri, G., 2012. The effect of immigration on productivity: Evidence from US states. Review of
Economics and Statistics, 94(1), pp.348-358.
SBS, 2017. Minimum wage for low-paid workers to rise from 1st July. Available at:
https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/hindi/en/article/2017/06/06/minimum-wage-low-paid-
workers-rise-1st-july Accessed on 26th April, 2018.
Schofield, D., Cunich, M., Kelly, S., Passey, M.E., Shrestha, R., Callander, E., Tanton, R. and
Veerman, L., 2015. The impact of diabetes on the labour force participation, savings and
retirement income of workers aged 45-64 years in Australia. PloS one, 10(2), p.e0116860.
WGEA. 2017. Equal Pay Day: 4 September 2017. Retrieved from
https://www.wgea.gov.au/media-releases/equal-pay-day-4-september-2017
Wilson, F., & Tagg, S. 2010. Social constructionism and personal constructivism: Getting the
business owner's view on the role of sex and gender. International Journal of Gender and
Entrepreneurship, 2(1), 68-82.
Zander, K.K., Botzen, W.J., Oppermann, E., Kjellstrom, T. and Garnett, S.T., 2015. Heat stress
causes substantial labour productivity loss in Australia. Nature Climate Change, 5(7), p.647.

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Appendix
Figure 1: 10 Most dangerous industries in Australia
Figure 2: Profitable Companies per employee