Earnings is often used as exactly equivalent to wages, but may be used with reference to the real value of work done or service rendered, and even applied to inanimate things; as, the earnings of capital.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

net Net-profit comes to 10 million dollars every year.
profit Net-profit comes to 10 million dollars every year.
wage The recession has put the crunch on wage laborers.
wages Profits are the unpaid wages of the working class.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
earnings		falling
net		falling
profit		falling
wage		falling

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters: pay¹, net¹
4 letters: gain¹, wage¹
5 letters: wages², yield¹, lucre
6 letters: profit², salary³
12 letters: remuneration⁵

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (wages² = 2 syllables).