By the 1920s, the time clock was a fixture in the lives of workers in the Blackstone Valley.

From the collection of the Elizabeth J. Johnson Pawtucket History Research Library

A poll by a Web site that places candidates in hourly jobs found that a substantial number of younger workers see themselves as being paid by the hour throughout their careers, as opposed to receiving a yearly salary. But that number falls among college-educated workers.

The survey, conducted for a Web site called SnagAJob, found that 40 percent of people 18 through 29 see themselves as “career hourly workers,” with 41 percent considering themselves as salaried workers. (The rest are either self-employed or working on commission.)

Among those without a college degree, 48 percent expect to be hourly workers, while 30 percent expect to be salaried. Among those with college degrees, 62 percent expect to earn salaries while only 25 percent think they will be paid by the hour.

The actual number of workers paid by the hour last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, was 58 percent, or 75.9 million. Only 2.3 percent of them earn minimum wage or below. (Most workers who earn less than minimum wage are in food or beverage service, where tips are expected to supplement hourly wages.)

The Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training estimates that 60 percent of workers in the state are paid by the hour, with 40 percent receiving salaries, which is roughly in line with the national figures. Federal statistics report 315,000 workers in the state were paid by the hour last year.

SnagAJob refers to young hourly employees as “new collar” workers. The top five industries employing hourly workers between 18 and 29, the Web site reports, are retail (18 percent), customer service (16 percent), health care (16 percent), office/business (10 percent) and food service (8 percent).

Of the young hourly workers interviewed, 30 percent said their co-workers were the best thing about their jobs, with pay, benefits and interaction with customers in a three-way tie for second place at about 20 percent each.

Cathy McCarthy, senior vice president of marketing for SnagAJob, said the younger hourly workers are more interested in job fulfillment than in whether they are salaried or paid by the hour.

She said many companies are more willing to invest in a training and retention program for their salaried employees than for their hourly ones, even though many of the hourly employees interviewed plan to stay in their jobs long-term.

The online survey was conducted by IPSOS Public Affairs between May 25 and June 9.

A 2006 research paper by Prof. Jeffrey Pfeffer and graduate student Sanford E. Devoe at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business titled “When Time is Money: The Effect of Hourly Payment on the Evaluation of Time,” found that people paid by the hour are more likely to explicitly equate time with money. Pfeffer called it “a commodified view of time.”

One result, the researchers found, was that hourly workers were more willing to put in extra time to get extra money. “People gravitate toward things that are easier to evaluate, and it is easier to figure out the value of a paid hour than it is, say, the value of an hour spent in leisure activity. So they chose work over play.”

The study also found that people paid by the hour are less likely to give away their time, even to a worthy cause. Pfeffer and Devoe reported that people paid by the hour spent 36 percent less time on volunteer work than do people earning salaries.

asmith@projo.com