BillyS - 4:44 pm on Oct 16, 2010 (gmt 0)

so it appears to me that americans get paid their salary weekly, unlike any other country i worked so far(europe and south africa) that was my question..

As a rule of thumb, blue collar / hourly / Union workers are paid weekly, while white collar / salaried workers are paid less frequently. It's pretty common to be paid once every two weeks.