<!-- generated: provider=openrouter model=arcee-ai/trinity-large-preview:free date=2026-02-19 source=book-1-chapter-10 -->

# Principal Employments

# Principal Employments

## Definition

The main or primary occupation through which individuals derive their subsistence, as opposed to secondary or occasional work undertaken during leisure time, which affects how wages are determined and how workers value their time.

## Source Chapter

Book I, Chapter 10

## Context

Smith argues that equality in the advantages and disadvantages of different employments can only occur when those employments are the principal means of subsistence for the workers. When people engage in a trade only occasionally while maintaining other primary occupations, they may accept lower wages, disrupting the natural equilibrium of compensation.

## Economic Domain

Distribution

---
