Payday Pulse: 5,000 Years of Wages In One Giant Timeline

Published

1 hour ago

February 13, 2026

| 6,602 views

-->

Ryan Bellefontaine

Graphics & Design

Zack Aboulazm

View the full-size version of this graphic

Payday Pulse: 5,000 Years of Wages In One Giant Timeline

Key Takeaways

In ancient times, wages were paid daily. Over time, payday shifted with technology, laws, and scale.
Biweekly pay dominates today, yet timing gaps still create pressure.
Earned Wage Access gives employees flexibility by unlocking already-earned wages alongside payroll.

For millennia, wages have reflected how society organizes work. Over time, payday moved from immediate necessities to scheduled cycles.

This graphic, in partnership with Payactiv, shows Years of Wages across 5,000 years using data from various sources.

Antiquity: In-kind daily wages

Early employers often paid workers with essentials, because daily survival mattered most. As a result, wage records show rations, commodities, and early standardized rates.

Year	Milestone
ca. 3100 BCE	A clay tablet from Mesopotamia records the daily beer ration for day laborers.
ca. 1750 BCE	The Babylonian Code of Hammurabi details in-kind wages for many common occupations in corn.
ca. 600 BCE	The Lydian Stater was the first state-issued denominated coin; a third-stater—or trite—was worth one month’s subsistence.

Then, cash pay spread as trade expanded, and wages became easier to measure and compare. Even so, “salary” still carries a salt-linked origin story, although the “paid only in salt” claim doesn’t hold up.

Middle Ages: Variable paydays

During the Middle Ages, many roles blended cash with in-kind support, especially for year-round service. In practice, wages could include food, lodging, clothing allowances, or guaranteed access to essentials.

Year	Milestone
950	Byzantine officials are paid by the Emperor in person in gold coins and bolts of silk in a public ceremony on Palm Sunday in the Hagia Sophia.
1271	Paper money emerged first in China during the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), and was convertible to strings of coins called guàn.
1346–1353	The Black Death kills roughly half of Europe’s population, leading to labor shortages and significantly higher wages.

Even when pay was “annual,” it wasn’t always a single year-end handoff. Instead, employers often settled wages around seasonal milestones, while workers relied on household production to smooth gaps.

Early Modern Period: Paydays still variable

As markets grew, more workers relied on regular cash wages to cover recurring costs. Meanwhile, employers pushed toward repeatable routines that later shaped modern payroll.

Year	Milestone
17th Century CE	Merchants subcontract manufacturing to workers in their cottages—hence cottage industry—and were paid by piece.
1659	The first-ever check is written for 39 pounds, 4 shillings, and 2 pence in London on February 16th.
1760	The Industrial Revolution upends the workplace, with workers organized into factories and paid on a weekly basis.

Weekly pay fit the rhythm of expanding towns and workshops, where hours and output were easier to track. As a result, payday became a predictable checkpoint for both workers budgeting and employers managing labor costs.

Modern Era: Moving to bi-weekly paydays

In the modern era, the biweekly payday eventually became the default for many employers because it balances predictability with workable payroll administration. In 2023, it was the most common pay period in the U.S. private sector at 43.0%.

Year	Milestone
1831	The British Parliament outlaws payment in goods or in company scrip, which could only be spent at company stores.
1847	The UK Factories Act—AKA the Ten Hours Act—restricted the working hours for women and youth to 10 hours per day.
1888	The timeclock is invented by William Legrand Bundy in New York, allowing standardized tracking of working hours.
1894	The world’s first minimum wage is enacted in New Zealand, followed by Australia (1896), the UK (1909), and the U.S. (1938).
1938	The U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act is signed into law, making the 44-hour workweek standard, with overtime set at time-and-half pay.
1943	The U.S. Congress passes the Current Tax Payment Act, which required employers to withhold taxes from workers’ wages.
1957	ADP begins automating payroll with new computing technology, allowing batch payroll runs for the first time.
1972	Automated Clearing House payments are launched in California where payroll is deposited directly into employees accounts.
1998	Reloadable payroll cards offer an alternative to direct deposit and paper checks and work similar to debit cards.

At the same time, pay delivery evolved beyond paper checks into direct deposit and options like payroll cards. That flexibility helps employers meet workers where they are, while keeping the underlying schedule consistent.

Then, Industrial payroll became more systematic, moving from wage packets to the modern “paycheck.” Later, the employee time clock helped employers tie wages to hours with greater precision.

In the 1970s, electronic rails like the Automated Clearing House (ACH) enabled direct deposit and scaled digital pay. Even so, fixed payroll cycles can still create timing gaps between work completed and bills due.

The Digital Age: On-demand access

In 2013, Payactiv created and launched Earned Wage Access, giving workers on-demand access to wages they’ve already earned. That shift added flexibility without changing the underlying payroll schedule.

Year	Milestone
2013	Payactiv creates and launches Earned Wage Access, giving workers access to their wages in real-time, instead of waiting until payday.
2019–2022	The COVID-19 pandemic forced millions into remote work, while increased government spending sent inflation rising.
2026	Almost half of Americans, 46%, say that the cost-of-living crisis is the worst they have ever seen, making waiting for payday even harder.

Then, from 2019–2022, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed millions into remote work while rising prices squeezed household budgets.

By 2026, 46% of Americans said the cost-of-living crisis is the worst they’ve ever seen, making the wait between work completed and payday feel even harder.

What Earned Wage Access Changes

Because payroll runs on fixed cycles, workers sometimes pay interest just to access already-earned wages sooner.

Earned Wage Access (EWA) lets employees access wages they’ve already earned, as they earn them, without borrowing against future pay.

Give employees access to earned wages.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Enjoying the data visualization above? *Subscribe

Related Topics: #wages #payday loans #earned wage access #payroll #salary #jobs

Click for Comments

var disqus_shortname = "visualcapitalist.disqus.com";
var disqus_title = "Payday Pulse: 5,000 Years of Wages In One Giant Timeline";
var disqus_url = "https://www.visualcapitalist.com/sp/pay01-payday-pulse-5000-years-of-wages-in-one-giant-timeline/";
var disqus_identifier = "visualcapitalist.disqus.com-193376";

Ranked: EV Share of New Car Sales by Country in 2025 Guest
Charted: Climate Change Is Shrinking the Pool of Winter Olympic Host Cities Guest
Payday Pulse: Where Americans Are Most Burdened by Household Debt Guest
Payday Pulse: America’s Growing Mountain of Debt Guest
Payday Pulse: 5,000 Years of Wages In One Giant Timeline Guest
Ranked: The Countries Generating the Most Electricity Guest
Ranked: The Critical Minerals Lost to U.S. Mining Waste, by Tonnage Guest
6 Trends Reshaping U.S. Property Insurance Guest
Charted: U.S. Defense Spending by President Since 1997 Guest
Mapped: Birth Rates Around the World in 2025 Guest

You are here

Payday Pulse: 5,000 Years of Wages In One Giant Timeline