Factors Effecting the Demand and Supply of Labour - 9

The supply of labour to particular firms and industries is influenced by the level of wages, salaries and other incentives offered by prospective employers. Skilled workers look at the total renumeration package offered by employers. An employer may offer you use of a company vehicle on weekends, or pay for some component of your telephone bill, or offer you an ''entertainment allowance'' to help pay for lunches with potential clients. An employer may offer to pay more than the legal minimum required into your superannuation fund. All of these payments, and many others, are collectively called fringe benefits.

Some employers may have to offer higher wages and other ''fringe benefits'' to attract workers, if the conditions of work in their firm or industry are dirty or dangerous. Coal miners get paid high wages: and so they should be. The work is dangerous, and can have health effects on the worker in later life. Some employers have to offer higher wages if their firm is in an isolated area.

Roxby Downs in South Australia is one of the world's largest copper and uranium mines, and the wages paid by Western Mining Company are high, compared to the wages paid in Adelaide to workers with similar skills and education. Once you've been paid, though, its a long drive from ''Roxby'' to Adelaide, if you want to go to a nightclub.