wages; labor wages
Refers specifically to wages earned through physical or manual labor. More formal and less common than 賃金 (ちんぎん) in everyday speech.
Factory wages are paid by the hour.
He demanded a raise in labor wages.
Compound of 労 (ろう, 'labor') and 銀 (ぎん, 'silver' or 'money'), literally 'labor money'. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the term likely emerged in the context of industrial labor.