Hourly wage of an employee is derived by dividing the amount of wages paid by the number of working hours of the employee in the survey period.

The real wage index, obtained by deflating the nominal wage index by the consumer price index (a), indicates changes in the purchasing power of the amount of wages earned.

Hourly pay is the most common means of payment based on time; employees who are paid hourly are said to receive wages, which are payments directly calculated on the amount of time worked.