# The Employer — The Wealth of Nations character guide

> The Employer in The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** himself, The employer, the employer

**First appearance:** 0011-viii-of-the-wages-of-labour

## Snapshot

The generic master or capitalist whose bargaining power over wages, Smith insists, is always greater than the worker's — and who knows it.

## Who they are

Smith introduces the employer not as a villain but as a structural fact: masters are fewer, better organized, and can hold out longer than workmen, so 'combinations' of employers are tacit and durable while workers' combinations are noisy and illegal. The employer's interest is to keep wages low, and Smith notes drily that whenever masters meet, the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public or in some contrivance to raise prices. This figure matters because he embodies Smith's refusal to sentimentalize capital: the market's harmony is real, but it is negotiated from unequal positions, and the reader who sees that will read the rest of the book differently.

## Relationships

### [All Servants and Labourers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters/all_servants_and_labourers)

_professional_

All servants and labourers have a clear employer-employee relationship with the employer.

## In the story

### [Of the Principle Which Gives Occasion to the Division of Labour](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/ii-of-the-principle-which-gives-occasion-to-the-division-of-labour)

Implied in the discussion of the butcher, brewer, and baker who provide goods out of self-interest.

### [V: Of the Real and Nominal Price of Commodities, or of Their Price in Labour, and Their Price in Money](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/v-of-the-real-and-nominal-price-of-commodities-or-of-their-price-in-labour-and-their-price-in-money)

Referenced as the person who purchases labor and perceives its price as varying.

### [Of the Component Parts of the Price of Commodities](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/vi-of-the-component-parts-of-the-price-of-commodities)

The undertaker who hazards stock in manufacturing, earning profit from the workmen's labor.

### [Of the Natural and Market Price of Commodities](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/vii-of-the-natural-and-market-price-of-commodities)

Referred to as the person who advances wages and expects profit, central to the definition of natural price.

### [VIII: Of the Wages of Labour](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/viii-of-the-wages-of-labour)

The party in wage negotiations who seeks to lower wages; includes masters, landlords, and farmers.

### [X: Of Wages and Profit in the Different Employments of Labour and Stock](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/x-of-wages-and-profit-in-the-different-employments-of-labour-and-stock)

Merchants who employ carriers or sailors; their profits augment the price of imported goods.

### [I: Inequalities Arising from the Nature of the Employments Themselves](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/i-inequalities-arising-from-the-nature-of-the-employments-themselves)

Mentioned in context of cotters receiving wages from their masters.

### [II: Inequalities Occasioned by the Policy of Europe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/ii-inequalities-occasioned-by-the-policy-of-europe)

Employers in towns who benefit from the advantages of incorporated trades.

### [Of the Rent of Land](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/xi-of-the-rent-of-land)

Constitutes the third order living by profit; their plans direct most useful labor, but profit does not rise with prosperity like rent and wages.

### [Conclusion of the Chapter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/conclusion-of-the-chapter)

Those who live by profit; their interest often differs from and opposes the public interest, especially merchants and master manufacturers.

### [Book II: Of the Nature, Accumulation, and Employment of Stock](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/book-ii)

Represents those who employ stock in productive labor.

### [I: Of the Division of Stock](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/i-of-the-division-of-stock)

Discussed as the recipient of profit from fixed and circulating capitals, such as the farmer and master artificer.

### [II: Of Restraints Upon the Importation from Foreign Countries of Such Goods as Can Be Produced at Home](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/ii-of-restraints-upon-the-importation-from-foreign-countries-of-such-goods-as-can-be-produced-at-home)

Used as an example of a prudent individual who buys rather than makes goods when cheaper to do so.

### [V: Of Bounties](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/v-of-bounties)

Implied as the merchant or manufacturer who benefits from bounties.

### [VIII: Conclusion of the Mercantile System](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/viii-conclusion-of-the-mercantile-system)

Implied as the master manufacturers who benefit from cheap raw materials and export bounties.

### [Taxes Upon Profit, or Upon the Revenue Arising from Stock](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/taxes-upon-profit-or-upon-the-revenue-arising-from-stock)

The employer of stock who must receive compensation for risk and trouble, and may shift tax burdens.

### [Article III: Taxes Upon the Wages of Labour](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/chapters/article-iii-taxes-upon-the-wages-of-labour)

Advances the tax on wages; in manufacturing, passes the cost to consumers; in agriculture, reduces rent paid to landlords.

## Links

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- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_wealth_of_nations_se/characters