Learn English – A term encompassing both ‘salary’ and ‘wage(s)’

hypernymssingle-word-requests

Your employee income tax is calculated as a fraction of your overall ________, be it through wages or salary, but not your gains from invested savings."

what do I put down in the ______ ? Is it "income"? Something else?

Best Answer

Depends on what country (legal jurisdiction) you're in, and the context of the document or conversation. What others have suggested:

  • Remuneration
  • Compensation
  • Total Compensation
  • Income
  • Earnings
  • Earned Income
  • Pay

The conditions on the left side and right sides of your snippet really narrows the field:

be it through wages or salary, but not your gains from invested savings

  • Remuneration (a old geeky word, hard to pin down, so it could work, but it's mouthful to pronounce in conversation)
  • Compensation (still works)
  • Total Compensation (this could cause confusion as it might include invested savings)
  • Income (no, income in 90% of the world also includes investments)
  • Earnings (works, but some could construe the interest in that)
  • Earned Income (maybe the best, especially if you're in the U.S.)
  • Pay (works, sufficiently broad, if that is desirable)

Like I said, it's a context issue. Writing a legal document? Policy document?

If you were writing a conditional job offer, a brochure, or in a face-to-face with a recruit or employee, my choice would be compensation package. That's the common phrase in those forum.

edited for spelling errors

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