Why Do Footballers Get Paid More Than Soldiers

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Why do footballers get paid more than the military? This is a very clichéd topic to write about, but one I have deliberately picked to best explain the wage differential between professions - it is a hotly debated topic, both from a more emotional standpoint and also from ethical and economic points of view. For the purpose of this essay, I will mainly stick to the economic arguments. The wage differential between these two occupations is massive. For example, Christiano Ronaldo’s monthly salary 2012-2013 is said to be about £800,000, whereas a private in the army would make £14,000 per year. So why do footballers get paid so much more? A large part of it comes from supply and demand. Wage rate is determined by supply and demand of that occupation. Take Christiano Ronaldo for example, as highlighted above. There is only one of him, so clubs will pay any amount of money for him (within reason). There are only very few outstanding football players in this world, so supply is low and demand is high so the wage rate has to be set at a high rate. Soldiers on the other hand, are plentiful on the labour market especially in these economic conditions because not much training and time (which has an opportunity cost) is required to become a soldier, so many people are willing to become one. The government is demanding a small amount of soldiers compared to the number that are willing to become soldiers, so the government can get away with paying soldiers at a low pay rate, because people will still want to be a soldier despite the conditions. The public sector in general has a low wage rate compared to the private sector because the government want to limit expenditure as far as possible by keeping the wage rate down. I believe it is this difference between the public and private sector that most affects the differences in pay between these two professions footballers can be
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