If Walmart Paid Its Employees a Living Wage, How Much Would Prices Go Up? (video)

YouTube ^ | April 4, 2014 | Slate .Video

[EveningStar]

In the series "The Secret Life of a Food Stamp," Marketplace reporter Krissy Clark traces how big-box stores make billions from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka food stamps. What's more, the wages of many workers at these stores are so low that the workers themselves qualify for food stamps—which the employees then often spend at those big-box stores...

[bigbob]

I don’t have time to validate their model, but we all know that is should pass the “smell test”, because people earning their own way is always going to be more efficient than having the government in the loop, redistributing wealth.

The reality is that poverty in the US today is not like the poverty of our parents and grandparents generations. The government has made it possible to live a pretty comfy life without holding a job. And we’re now into the 2nd and 3rd generation of people who have never lived in a family where anyone works for a living.

So the problem really isn’t with the math. Who is going to stand up and fight - R and D alike - to remove the entitlements? Because having that option available is what keeps this system going.

[Aevery_Freeman]

No fair - you used logic!

That's not playing fair with liberals.

[BwanaNdege]

But what does it say about one of the more profitable companies in the US when it pays wages low enough that its employees are eligible for public assistance even when working full time? Are they not making their profits on the backs of taxpayers?

More military families used food stamps to buy milk, cheese, meat and bread at military grocers last year.

The situation with pay for the lower enlisted ranks is better than it used to be, but what does it say about the American people when their congressmen are clamoring for more money that the $174K they already make, yet the men & women who go off to war sometimes leave families behind who are at least partially subsisting on Food Stamps?

[tumblindice]

“living wage” is a loaded lefty term, like “choice”, “Affordable Care” and “transparency.”
“Pay raises all around” would be more like it, but they know if this was an honest debate Americans would flatly tell complainers—`If you feel underpaid, go work somewhere where your talents are appreciated. Like I/we did.’
As it is, the first thing most Americans think is, “Gee, people should be able to make enough to live ... “

So don’t let the Democrats and their GOP-e allies dictate the terms: They want to force private companies to give pay raises/increase `minimum wages’; they want a command economy; they’re post-fascist/national socialists.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Define “living wage.” $20/hr? $30? $50?

[SunkenCiv]

If the prices went up, most people who shop at Walmart would have to shoplift at the better places to make ends meet. That’s what’s known as an unfunded mandate. Thanks EveningStar.

[CatherineofAragon]

Recently I had a conversation with the manager of one of our local Walmarts. He’s a very nice guy, and from what I gathered during our talk, a Christian. He said when it comes to retail jobs, Walmart employees are pretty well taken care of-—a fair salary, regular raises, good insurance plan, and stock options.

[grania]

retail jobs are not meant to be family supporting

There was a time not long ago when running a small family retail business was a common and respected way to earn a living. Now, all that money ends up in the Walton's bank accounts.

[DocJhn]

Why not put more burden on the Citizen. No skills no education but you want the rest of the country to pay for your wage increase! Along with your EBT cards because you qualify. Taxes, higher prices, the Me Me Me generation! Get a life takers!

[DannyTN]

The answer is to increase the number of jobs by stopping offshoring. You do that by restoring the import tariffs which will bring industries and jobs back to the U.S..

And you decrease the amount of available labor by stopping the illegal immigration, and slowing the legal immigration and H1b’s.

[DannyTN]

The answer is to increase the number of jobs by stopping offshoring. You do that by restoring the import tariffs which will bring industries and jobs back to the U.S..

And you decrease the amount of available labor by stopping the illegal immigration, and slowing the legal immigration and H1b’s.

[TexasFreeper2009]

um... I don't know why liberals dont GET this!!

if you pay someone with no experience and no education more for doing something you could probably train a dog to do better... you are devaluing what everyone else is paid in relation to them.

So the person who works hard and does a good job that's currently making $15 and feeling pretty valued and appreciated because they are earning twice what the janitors are making suddenly doesn't feel so special and appreciated anymore.. they start thinking to themselves... HEY! that job I do is 10 times harder than was that guy does! heck he didn't have to even learn anything to do that job! Why should he earn nearly the same thing as me! I am a valued, trusted employee! I want a raise!!

and that same story keeps playing out all the way up the pay scale.

So you see... if you increase the salary of the lowest... you end up increasing the salary of all.

And when everyone is suddenly making more... everything suddenly costs a lot more and you are right back where you started except now $15 an hour isn't enough to live on and they need $30 an hour for it to be a “living wage”

[HamiltonJay]

I don’t understand people, when I started working I was earning $3.35 an hour with no benefits. I worked at a low skill entry level job, and did that for several years as I got my education.

There is no doubt the country has changed, and sadly many jobs on the lower end of education and skill are no longer there, and cheap foreign labor and free trade has depressed wages in the US... Anyone who says otherwise is just flat out ignorant of the facts.

Some folks have benefited greatly by these policies, others have been destroyed by them.

That being said, today, about 26 years later, I make many times the minimum wage, but it wasn’t handed to me on a silver platter, I started out at minimum wage, I cleaned up all kinds of $hit both figuratively and literally, over the course of my career... But every time I have had a disagreement with my employer over my compensation rate, if they couldn’t or wouldn’t come around to my way of thinking, went out into the marketplace and was told quite quickly if what I wanted was fair or not... Most often I wound up changing jobs and got the compensation I desired and sometimes a good bit more.

I never thought my employer was evil because they didn’t pay me what I wanted... stupid perhaps.. but never evil. I presented my case for why I thought I deserved more, sometimes the employer agreed, others they didn’t but never did I think it was their obligation to pay me more... If they didn’t agree, I moved on.

I am not going to argue Wal Mart or Home Depot are the higest payers on the planet, but in MOST parts of the country, people can indeed live off the wages they pay. Even if you have 2 people working for $10 an hour, you are making 40k a year... Not rich, but that’s not poverty in most of America... Yes in some high dollar markets (urban centers) that’s not much, but given the median household income in America is about 50k, that’s not poverty.

Like it or not, that’s the reality of America today, manufacturing of 2 generations ago that let someone with just a high school education walk into a job that could support a family one 1 income are long gone and they aren’t coming back... We live in the age where 2 incomes are needed at that level to make it if you are raising a family... The problems come in when you wind up with just 1 income but have children or dependents. The income is enough for 1 person to survive, but not enough to raise a family on.

[fungoking]

There's a ladder to this work thing. If you're at the bottom, it's probably because that's where you belong. Unskilled workers are a dime a dozen.

And I don't mean that in a bad way.....It's just the way it is. Why should they make as much as someone who worked and got through high school...as worked for many years. And there are plenty of workers who abhor responsibility.
___________________________________________

I use a paraphrase of “Ricardo's Iron Law of Wages” in class. Low and minimum skill workers will never make much more than what they need to survive.

If you make bad choices and don't equip yourself with job skills that separate you from all the other potential workers, you will be a R.I.L.O.W.; and it will be your fault.

[bray]

If Marxists didn’t control America how much would Walmart prices go down?

Pray America wakes up

[Smokin' Joe]

Around here Walmart night stocking crews are making $16 with a housing allowance, cashiers make similar. (But 16 an hour here will not support a family of 4, on just a 40 hour week. It won’t pay monthly rent for an average 2-bedroom apartment before taxes).

[ExTxMarine]

Define “living wage.” $20/hr? $30? $50?

THAT is the reason they use these nice sounding, generic terms like "income equality," "fairness," and "living wage" and crap.

The fact is, these cannot be substantiated or nailed down to any actual number. I will tell you right now, you can live pretty damn good on $10/hr in many parts of Texas, Mississippi, and many other locations. But, you couldn't live AT all on that in New York City or Los Angeles (without government assistance).

Of course, they don't actually care about people, if they did, they would make minimum wage based on the actual cost of living in that area/city/county/state, etc... They don't care, they just need this to be a wedge issue and bash people who won't agree with their premise - which is based on lies and misinformation.

[C. Edmund Wright]

That’s your answer to everything, period. You and Cringe, one note sambas.

[C. Edmund Wright]

Okay, so you post this left wing propoganda piece from Slate, and then disappear? I think you need to join the conversation you started with this flapdoodle.

[The Great RJ]

Several flaws in this analysis: First is the assumption that all of Wal Mart's employees getting food stamps will spend all of that money buying their groceries at Wal Mart. There are competing grocery stores and many low income people also buy food at convenience stores. Second, there are no costs associated with the issuing processing and other bureaucracy administrating the food stamps. The assumption is that a dollar of additional wage will translate into a dollar less of food stamps. Third there are no assumptions for taxes. Boosting a Wal Mart worker's wage to $11.81 will mean they will pay more in federal,state and local taxes and could well mean they have LESS disposable income to spend. For example that single mother cited in the video could at the higher wage lose earned income tax credits, free school lunches for her kid and a host of other social safety net programs. One big factor could be Medicaid eligibility. Depending on the state, boosting the wage to $11.81 might be too much income to qualify for Medicaid and force our single mom to look to subsidized Obamacare for her health insurance. However, the Obamacare subsidies are fickle and at that wage she might not qualify for the subsidy and not be able to afford any of the insurance options in her state.

There also is no information provided on how the 1 cent increase in the price of mac & cheese is calculated or how the cost of other goods sold at Wal Mart might be affected. Grocery stores typically operate on razor thin profit margins so Wal Mart might not have any slack in order to pay more.

Finally worker productivity is not part of this calculation. To pay a worker $11.81/hour means on average that worker will have to generate MORE than $11.81 of revenue for every hour worked. To boost productivity Wal Mart might well reduce the number of employees or even automate positions. For example Wal Mart already has self checkout at many stores and could just fire cashiers and have just one cashier now supervising 4 or 5 self checkout stations.