Link This |
Email this |
Blog This |
Comments (1)
A corrected premium
November 29, 2005
Mark Hill was the first of several readers to question my use of the word "premium" in my November Editor's Note. I contended that a reported 11-fold salary multiple earned by US engineers vs. their Indian counterparts represented an 1100% premium. Hill and others contend that a premium is an amount in addition to some other amount, which would lead to a multiple of 11 yielding a 1000% premium, not an 1100% premium.
I can search for dictionary definitions of "premium" and find ones that might be twisted to support my original use--for example, an amount with respect to some smaller, par value. However, the preferred definition of "premium" is an amount in addition to another amount. That is the way I should have used it; a word that is stretched to acquire many meanings ultimately has no meaning at all.
Nevertheless, the fact that US engineers command only a 1000% premium isn't particularly comforting.
Posted by Rick Nelson on November 29, 2005 | Comments (1)
