Difference between Salary and Stipend

Key difference: A salary is the payment or remuneration that one receives in return for work and/or services provided. A stipend is usually paid during the term of an internship or apprenticeship. It differs from a salary, as it is not paid as remuneration for work provided.

A salary is the payment or remuneration that one receives in return for work and/or services provided. It is paid periodically, i.e. over a specified interval of time, such as weekly, or more commonly, monthly.

A salary is essentially a fixed amount of money or compensation paid to an employee by an employer in return for work performed. It may be termed as a salary of x amount per hour, x amount per month or an annul salary of x amount.

The salary is stipulated by the current market rates for people doing similar work in similar industries in the same region.   It may also be dependent on the qualifications of the employee and the amount that the company can or is willing to pay to hire and/or retain those qualifications.

Also the number of people that are capable of providing the same service or do the same kind of work also has an impact on the salary, for example, if a lot of people can do that job, then the salary would be lower as a number of those people would be vying for that single job, whereas, if there are a lot of jobs but not enough people to fill those jobs, then the company would be willing to pay a larger salary to fill that position.

A stipend, on the other hand, is slightly different. It can be considered as a form of salary; however it is quite different from a traditional salary. A stipend is usually paid during the term of an internship or apprenticeship. It differs from a salary, as it is not paid as remuneration for work provided. In an internship or apprenticeship, it is expected that the person would not be providing quality work; instead, the person is there to learn. The stipend is paid to the person, which allows him to learn and not focus on working to earn a salary.

The stipend is usually less than a salary, and is expected to just cover the needs of the intern or apprentice, as opposed to the wants. In some instances, stipends may be paid in addition to some other benefits, such as accreditation, instruction, food, and/or accommodation.

The main difference between a salary and a stipend is the fact that a salary is paid in return for the work provided by an employee to the employer, whereas a stipend is paid to supplement the intern or apprentice for the time they put in to learn the trade, as opposed to the work they do. Once the internship or apprenticeship is over, then the intern or apprentice may be takenon by the company as an employee, wherein the stipend would be replaced by a salary.

Image Courtesy: risesmart.com, twenty19.com

Most Searched in Games and Recreation Most Searched in Home and Garden
Most Searched in Sports Most Searched in Food and Drink
Adjective vs Adverb
Jelly vs Jam
Bill vs Voucher
Login vs Log on

Add new comment

Plain text

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.