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Doesn't Walmart have a disproportionately high number of employees taking advantage of food stamps due to suppressed wages? https://www.jwj.org/walmarts-food-s

Doesn't Walmart have a disproportionately high number of employees taking advantage of food stamps due to suppressed wages? https://www.jwj.org/walmarts-food-stamp-scam-explained-in-one-easy-chart https://www.jwj.org/walmarts-food-stamp-scam-explained-in-on...

SilasX 3y ago
Not the $240k/year store managers, no.
mvkel 3y ago
That article is from 2014. The average Walmart employee rate today is $17.06. And a non-zero amount of those employees can someday make a lot more. How many other companies of that size can say the same? I'm not saying it's not a problem, and not saying we shouldn't be trying so solve it. But are we talking about wage reform, or Walmart uniquely being a shithead? I read the article you linked and it feels like it's got an agenda. Conjecture 1 is that Walmart doesn't pay employees enough, then Conjecture 2 is that it pays its executives "too much," but conveniently defines "executive" as just the CEO, when in reality executives include the very people that OP's article is about - store managers! I admittedly stopped reading after that because one can always find a convenient fact to backup their view. If I'm misinterpreting, let me know. It's also complicated. When Walmart announced wage increases in 2015, their stock fell 5%. Who owns Walmart stock? Us.
- throwaway2037 3y ago
  > How many other companies of that size can say the same? This is a bit of a strawman argument. How many other companies exist on planet Earth of this size? Very few. And are you insinuating that Walmart is paying well because they want to? I doubt it. They are tried-and-tested mega corp that responds to labour market pressures. I don't attribute anything else to this level of pay. Finally, average isn't a good metric to use; median is more useful. If we leave size aside, I would say that Starbucks and Whole Foods are very good employers and large.
  - mvkel 3y ago
    I was not insinuating that. The bigger you get as a corp, the harder it is to do have a mutually beneficial relationship with your employees, -because- market forces dictate so much of the strategy. So, that Walmart is the literal biggest corp and can still have legit upward mobility and satisfied mid-level employees is no small feat. I was using average bc the article the commenter pointed to was also quoting average. Coincidentally, the median seems to be the same (https://www.zippia.com/walmart-careers-116506/salary/california/ https://www.zippia.com/walmart-careers-116506/salary/califor...)

SilasX 3y ago

Not the $240k/year store managers, no.

mvkel 3y ago

That article is from 2014. The average Walmart employee rate today is $17.06. And a non-zero amount of those employees can someday make a lot more. How many other companies of that size can say the same? I'm not saying it's not a problem, and not saying we shouldn't be trying so solve it. But are we talking about wage reform, or Walmart uniquely being a shithead? I read the article you linked and it feels like it's got an agenda. Conjecture 1 is that Walmart doesn't pay employees enough, then Conjecture 2 is that it pays its executives "too much," but conveniently defines "executive" as just the CEO, when in reality executives include the very people that OP's article is about - store managers! I admittedly stopped reading after that because one can always find a convenient fact to backup their view. If I'm misinterpreting, let me know. It's also complicated. When Walmart announced wage increases in 2015, their stock fell 5%. Who owns Walmart stock? Us.

throwaway2037 3y ago
> How many other companies of that size can say the same? This is a bit of a strawman argument. How many other companies exist on planet Earth of this size? Very few. And are you insinuating that Walmart is paying well because they want to? I doubt it. They are tried-and-tested mega corp that responds to labour market pressures. I don't attribute anything else to this level of pay. Finally, average isn't a good metric to use; median is more useful. If we leave size aside, I would say that Starbucks and Whole Foods are very good employers and large.
- mvkel 3y ago
  I was not insinuating that. The bigger you get as a corp, the harder it is to do have a mutually beneficial relationship with your employees, -because- market forces dictate so much of the strategy. So, that Walmart is the literal biggest corp and can still have legit upward mobility and satisfied mid-level employees is no small feat. I was using average bc the article the commenter pointed to was also quoting average. Coincidentally, the median seems to be the same (https://www.zippia.com/walmart-careers-116506/salary/california/ https://www.zippia.com/walmart-careers-116506/salary/califor...)