e are, however, various circumstances
which cause wages in any particular employment to be higher or lower
than in other employments, and we had better attend to what Adam Smith
has said on this subject. He mentioned five principal circumstances
which make up for small wages in some occupations, and balance great
wages in other ones, as follows:

(1.) #The Agreeableness or Disagreeableness of the Employments
themselves.# If an employment is in itself comparatively pleasant, it
attracts many who would not otherwise go into it at the current wages.
Thus, officers of the army and navy are not on the average highly paid;
but there is never any difficulty in finding men willing to be officers,
because the work is thought to be easy, and there is honour and power
attaching to it. On the other hand, a good butcher makes high wages,
because his business is a greasy one, besides being thought to be cruel,
and a clever man must be attracted to it by good earnings.

(2.) #The Easiness and Cheapness, or the Difficulty and Expense of
learning the Occupation.# This circumstance always has much importance,
because the greater number of the people are poor, and are consequently
unable to give their children a long good education. Thus, the larger
part of the young men who grow up are only fit for common manual
employments, and therefore get low wages. To learn a profession, like
that of an architect or engineer, it is requisite to pay a high premium,
and become a pupil in a good office, and then there are many years to be
spent in practising and waiting before profit begins to be made. Hence
the comparatively few who succeed in the difficult professions gain
very high wages.

(3.) #The Constancy or Inconstancy of Employment.# When a man is sure of
being employed and paid regularly all the year round, he is usually
willing on that account to accept a less rate of wages. Thus, there is
little difficulty in finding men to be policemen at about 25 shillings a
week; for though they have to go on duty at night, and their work is
often tedious and disagreeable, yet policemen are nearly sure to have
employment as long as they behave well. A carpenter or bricklayer, on
the contrary, is sometimes thrown out of work, and becomes anxious as to
the means of keeping his family. Masons and bricklayers, who cannot work
during frosty weather, ought of course to have higher wages during the
rest of the year, so as to make up a good average. Dock-labou