More technically, a wage slave is anyone who is paid to work as a machine (including those paid to be 'white collar' machines, even 'thinking machines', i.e., executives)--or a draft animal--for the financial aggrandizement of others (including owners of a corporation's stock). As pointed out in this article, a wage slave can be hugely well-compensated--but then bondage slaves sometimes became rich, and even politically powerful in ancient times (such as some eunuchs).