Some people feel that certain workers like nurses, doctors and teachers are undervalued and should be paid more, especially when other people like film actors or company bosses are paid huge sums of money that are out of proportion to the importance of the work that they do. -How far do you agree? -What criteria should be used to decide how much people are paid?

Nobody can deny that there are certain professionals like nurses, doctors and teachers who are essential to the fabric of society, and who should

therefore

be rewarded

accordingly

.

However

,

this

is seldom the case. When we look at the salaries and fees commanded by certain film stars and actresses and people who run large companies,

this

does not seem fair.

First

of all, not all film stars earn huge sums of money. In fact, at any one time in the UK,

for example

, roughly 80

per cent

a proportion in relation to a whole (which is usually the amount per hundred)

percent

of actors are out of work and on top of

that the

Accept comma addition

that, the

number who are paid so-called ‘telephone number fees’ is even smaller. One must

also

remember that the career of many actors is very short and that

therefore

the money they earn has to be spread over many years. The same applies to company bosses. Stating a set of criteria as to how much people should be paid is not easy. The idea of performance-related pay is very much in vogue at the moment. Rewarding

people according

Accept comma addition

people, according

to qualifications has long been used as a yardstick for paying people, but it is not a consistently good measure. Another is years of relevant experience, but there are many cases where a younger person can perform a task better than someone with lots of experience. Whatever criteria are used to assess salaries, an on-going cycle will develop.

This

will create pressure in other areas.

This

considered, generally I feel that certain key professionals should have their salaries assessed by independent review bodies on an on-going basis so that they do not fall behind.