Walmart and Amazon Named and Blamed in New Low Wage Report

Retailer Walmart WMT -0.44% ▼ and e-commerce giant Amazon AMZN -0.64% ▼ have been criticized for how they treat low-paid workers in a new report.

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Benefits and Wages

According to an article in Reuters, Sarah Anderson, Global Economy Project Director at the Institute for Policy Studies, believes that providing low-paid workers with government benefits like health insurance can be considered a socially positive policy.

However, they can also be looked at as being subsidies giving big businesses access to a large pool of labor able to work for less-than-living wages.

In the new report she reviewed pay practices of companies she dubbed “The Low-Wage 20,” or the 20 largest employers of low-wage U.S. workers. She found that more than half of these firms reported 2024 median pay that would make a family of three eligible for food benefits under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and for government-subsidized Medicaid health insurance benefits in most states.

“We think that median pay number that the companies report themselves is a really good indicator of how many of their workers might be on Medicaid and SNAP. We don’t have the exact figures because they’re not required to report that, but there were a handful of state governments that have revealed specific data company by company, and Walmart and Amazon were at the top of all of those lists with really clear numbers in terms of how many of their employees are,” she said. “These benefits are at risk right now. So it’s a good time to be having this conversation because these workers who are already having to stretch to pay their bills are going to be facing even more hardship.”

Companies Defend Policies

She added that having a business model that is heavily reliant on part-time workers is a choice. She believes it is a way to get around having to pay full benefits at a lot of these companies under the Affordable Care Act.

“Large companies have to provide affordable health insurance, or at least offer it to people working at least 30 hours a week. So, if you can keep your workers, you know, at a lower hourly level, then you can get around that,” she said. “A huge share of the low-wage workforce are single parents. And for these companies to just abdicate their obligation to provide a living wage says a lot about their priorities.”

Walmart said that it offers a “ladder of opportunity so people can build a career at Walmart, which includes a small percentage of our workforce that comes to us on public assistance. We hire them, train them and give them the chance to build a better life.”

Amazon said: “Our pay is among the best in the industry – well over double the federal minimum wage and significantly more than other retailers. Pointing fingers at Amazon over SNAP and/or Medicaid is a red herring when eligibility is based on total household income and size – and not individual wages.”

Which of AMZN and WMT Has the Best Upside?

Let’s have a look at which stock – Amazon or Walmart – has the best upside, according to analysts. As can be seen below, AMZN is the top dog with 31.42%.

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