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Tuesday, June 04, 2013

One Walmart's Low Wages Could Cost Taxpayers $900,000 Per Year, House Dems Find

Walmart wages are so low that many of its workers rely on food stamps and other government aid programs to fulfill their basic needs, a reality that could cost taxpayers as much as $900,000 at just one Walmart Supercenter in Wisconsin, according to a study released by Congressional Democrats on Thursday.

Though the study assumes that most workers who qualify for the public assistance programs do take advantage of them, it injects a potent data point into a national debate about the minimum wage at a time when many Walmart and fast food workers are mounting strikes in pursuit of higher wages.

The study uses Medicaid data released in Wisconsin to piece together the annual cost to taxpayers for providing a host of social safety net programs, including food stamps and publicly subsidized health care, to workers at one Supercenter in the state.

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

ChinaMart.

Anonymous said...

Look out, it appears that the readership here might like the democrats on this one.

Anonymous said...

This is one of the things both the far left and the far right agree on. Though you may think you are getting great prices at Walmart it's the hidden costs everyone should know about. When tax payers are subsidizing a company's employees, you really are not saving any money when you shop there.

Anonymous said...

How much would it cost the governments if those jobs were eliminated? The problem isn't the low wages, it's the artificially high level determined to require a "safety net".

Anonymous said...

this is true, a baby daddy's mom works for wal-mart, she had two younger girls, she got state medical insurance for the girls, food stamps, reduce / free lunch for the girls and some additional help. While the father lived in the same house, (no they never married) they had plenty of money for beer, cigs. I do believe the landlord was nice and they were paying low rent.

When its cheaper to make products in foreign countries, because these countries don't care about the environment or the employees, and when bad product leaves places like china and the top employees kill themselves or are put to death you may want to take a good look at our own self serving CEO's of Big Manufacture and take a good look at Walmart who buys cheap product form foreign lands

Anonymous said...

It is not just Walmart, most retail chains pay low wages and cut hours. It is impossible is to financially survive, afford the basics and save for the future when working at these places. You have to swing two jobs.