Why Walmart Worker Wages Should Still Be Higher
Walmart has made efforts to increase base wages for its employees in recent years; however, the increases are still not enough to put most people above the poverty line.
An author, Rick Wartzman, argues that Walmart worker wages should be higher than what the retail giant pays. He states that America is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but so many of its citizens are struggling on a day-to-day basis.
Over a decade ago, a political movement started calling for the minimum wage in America to be increased to $15. Only this month have some states actually hit that goal. Many global companies have voluntarily raised their employee’s wages to $15 an hour, which is a massive boost to employees and local economies.
Rick Wartzman said there is a solution no one will say; a federal intervention with a new national minimum wage. He also stated that the minimum wage should be $20 an hour, not $15. This amount is almost triple what the current minimum is. The reason behind this number is that America has not dealt with the poverty crisis taking over cities, and it has now hit a breaking point.
Walmart, one of America’s biggest employers, was once known for underpaying its staff to the point where some employees said that their paychecks would not even cover their essential utilities and ended up using food stamps.
Wartzman was a part of a team that investigated and uncovered Walmart’s penny-pinching tactics. But in recent years, there has been a massive shift in the company. Walmart has invested over $5 billion in higher pay, increased staff benefits, training, and education.
While, in theory, it looks like Walmart employees should now be living comfortably, it is just not the case. Many Walmart workers’ wages are over the minimum wage. But if you consider how many hours they work on a weekly basis, it equates to just on average $29,000 a year, which is not a living wage.
Even Walmart’s CEO has agreed that the national minimum wage of $7.25 is too low. But increasing the minimum wage to $15 or $20 could cause other issues. The Congressional Budget Office completed a study that showed if the minimum wage were increased to $15 an hour, it would take nearly one million people out of poverty. But this wage boost would result in higher product prices which could reduce profits and ultimately reduce jobs.
But there will always be a trade-off and no perfect solution to such a complex issue. Companies like Walmart argue that without them, hundreds of thousands of people would be on public assistance. While that is true, many of their employees are not living comfortably. But Walmart and other companies plan to keep increasing its employee’s hourly wages.
But since Walmart recently bought back a lot of its stock, it may already have the capital to do just that and is deciding not to. Its CEO states cannot boost all Walmart worker wages to $15-$20 as most of its stores would not be profitable and may close. While it is uncertain whether this is true or not, hopefully, employee wages will rise overall in the future.
