Hourly Wages

1.1 Calculating Wages

Calculating Wages

​There are 4 common ways to earn money

1. Paid by the hour

2. Salary

3. Piecework

4. Commission 

We will look at the first three in this lesson and then commission in the next lesson.

Hourly pay is the most common method of payment. A person has an hourly rate, or an amount of money paid per hour, which is then multiplied by the number of hours worked.

1. Hourly Pay

Solution:
= 16 x 20

= $320

Calculate the amount of money earned if you are paid $16/hr for 20 hours.

​Example 1

Solution:
= 20.75 x 15.5

= 321.625
= $321.63

Calculate the amount of money earned if you are paid $20.75/hr for 15.5 hours.

​Example 2

• DO NOT ROUND TO THE NEAREST NICKEL!!!!! Rounding to the nearest nickel is only done if paid by cash. Most of the time you will be paid by cheque or direct deposit and you will be paid to the penny.

• MONEY IS ALWAYS 2 DECIMALS AND ROUNDING RULES APPLY! Look at the third decimal place. If it is 5 or higher, add 1 to the second decimal place, if it is between 0 and 4, keep the second decimal place the same. Then remove all numbers after the second decimal place. Please see the following video for more examples.

• Units are not needed while working through a question, but YOU MUST HAVE UNITS ON THE FINAL ANSWER!

Common Errors

Multiple Choice

Calculate the amount of money earned if you're paid $25/h for 16.5 hours.

• 
  $412.05

• $425

• $400

• $412.50

Multiple Choice

Calculate the amount of money earned if you're paid $17.75/h for 32.5 hours.

• $576.88

• $594

• $576.87

• $544

Multiple Choice

Dean works at a grocery store. He earns $16.25 per hour and worked 36 hours last week. Calculate his weekly pay.

• $585

• 
  $594

• $612

• 
  $576