Wage concept

From MegaTravellerWiki

In the Traveller universe, a basic consideration of life is the cost of food and the quality of life you can uphold. As technology improves the rate at which you can extract resources increases, and thus the profit that can be had increases. The increase in profit translates into an increase in wages.

The gross average daily income (skilled labour) is equal to the square of the Tech Level in the environment in which a person works.

For instance, an average skilled labourer in a TL 8 (2009) society earns 64 Cr per day, which works out to approximately US$192 (2009 dollars) per day, before taxes are taken into account. This obviously represents income above minimum wage and takes the entire population into account.

The gross minimum daily income (unskilled labour) is equal to the Tech Level divided by 3, cubed, minus 2, constrained to a limit of one half of gross average daily wage, and rounded down (truncated).

This provides the following chart:

TL	Avg Wage	Min Wage	TL	Avg Wage	Min Wage
0	0 Cr	0 Cr	11	121 Cr	47 Cr
1	1 Cr	0 Cr	12	144 Cr	62 Cr
2	4 Cr	0 Cr	13	169 Cr	79 Cr
3	9 Cr	0 Cr	14	196 Cr	98 Cr
4	16 Cr	0 Cr	15	225 Cr	112 Cr
5	25 Cr	2 Cr	16	256 Cr	128 Cr
6	36 Cr	6 Cr	17	289 Cr	144 Cr
7	49 Cr	10 Cr	18	324 Cr	162 Cr
8	64 Cr	16 Cr	19	361 Cr	180 Cr
9	81 Cr	25 Cr	20	400 Cr	200 Cr
10	100 Cr	35 Cr	21	441 Cr	220 Cr

A staggering coincidence of this system is that at the tech levels before unionisation at early TL 5, there is no such thing as a minimum wage.

Bear strongly in mind that the credit in Traveller is a fixed denomination with a specific non-fiat, non-inflationary value. The progression in daily wages and minimum wages does not reflect inflation but rather reflects improvement in quality of life. At lower tech levels it is difficult to obtain the basic necessities of life by purchase, and most people produce tools, clothing, and food through their own skill.