piece rate

Form of payment for work done where the amount received is calculated per item produced. For example, a worker may be paid 1p per skirt hemmed by machine. If a worker hems 2,000 skirts on Tuesday, then his or her pay would be £20. If the same worker hems 2,200 skirts on Wednesday, the pay would be £22. Piece rates are paid where it is easy to identify the contribution of a worker to a task, usually to manual workers. They are used to provide an incentive to workers to work hard.