The Wealth of Nations · Chapter
I: Inequalities Arising from the Nature of the Employments Themselves explained
Adam Smith examines the five principal circumstances that cause inequalities in wages and profits across different employments: agreeableness, cost of learning, constancy of employment, trust required, and probability of success.
What happens
Adam Smith examines the five principal circumstances that cause inequalities in wages and profits across different employments: agreeableness, cost of learning, constancy of employment, trust required, and probability of success. He illustrates how these factors balance overall advantages and disadvantages, leading to variations in pecuniary gain.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This passage marks the story's dramatic climax because it presents the emotional and psychological peak of Smi…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Division of Labor
Smith discusses how different employments require varying skills and training, influencing wages.
- Self-Interest and the Invisible Hand
The balancing of advantages and disadvantages across employments reflects self-interested choices.
- Social Class and Inequality
Inequalities in wages and profits are tied to social perceptions of honor, disgrace, and skill.
Characters to notice
- Adam Smith
Author and narrator, analyzing the causes of wage and profit inequalities.
- The Employer
Mentioned in context of cotters receiving wages from their masters.
- A Workman
Referenced as a laborer who may accept lower wages in decaying industries.
- The Master
Implied as the recipient of labor from cotters and other workers.
Key passages
“The wages of labour vary with the ease or hardship, the cleanliness or dirtiness, the honourableness or dishonourableness of the employment.”
Pay differs based on how pleasant, clean, or respectable a job is.
Smith's first principle explaining wage variation.
“A man educated at the expense of much labour and time to any of those employments which require extraordinary dexterity and skill, may be compared to one of those expensive machines.”
A skilled worker is like a costly machine; their higher wages compensate for training expenses.
Smith's analogy for the cost of learning a trade.
“The most detestable of all employments, that of public executioner, is, in proportion to the quantity of work done, better paid than any common trade whatever.”
The executioner earns high pay due to the unpleasantness of the job.
Example of how disagreeableness increases wages.
