The article is an attempt of an analytical look at the basic elements of economic order such as work and wages, from the perspective of Church social teaching. The author tries to show and justify personalistic reasoning with regard to work. The basic theses of this reasoning are: the primacy of man and his work over capital, the man is the subject of work, the man has the right to work and fair pay for it, work is also in the normal way to meet people’s needs, spiritual as well as material.
Key words: work, pay, Catholic social teaching, ownership, honesty,