This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.

"Great Job Opportunities" - 52% Of Walmart Workers Make Under $25,000 A Year, But There's More...

Tyler Durden's picture




 

On Tuesday, the BLS engrossed in the same frenzy of openly making up data like the Dept of Labor has been with the initial claims data ever since early September when it started upgrading its California "systems" and never finished, announced that while only 140K or so jobs were created in September, nearly 700K full-time jobs were added as over 500K part-time jobs were converted into full-timers. On the surface this is great news... until one actually looks for empirical evidence that this is happening anywhere besides the data manipulating, massaging and fabricating models used by the BLS. And one certainly won't find it at the biggest private employer in the US - Walmart, which just announced that a whopping 475,000 of its employees earn at least $25,000 a year. Great news, right? Sure, until one considers that WMT has over 1 million employees, which means that well over 50% of Wal-Mart's employees make a tiny $25,000 year.

From Bloomberg:

Wal-Mart has provided some new and useful information: More than 475,000 of its 1 million hourly store employees earn at least $25,000 a year for full-time work. This figure comes from Bill Simon, the president and chief executive officer of Walmart U.S., who presented (PDF) it at Goldman Sachs’s (GS) Global Retailing Conference last month. The statistic, which was listed under the heading “Great job opportunities,” means as many as 525,000 full-time hourly employees earn less than $25,000 a year.

 

 

OUR Walmart, the union-backed workers’ group that’s been staging protests and asking for higher wages, pointed this out during a press conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. (The company’s presentation is also on its website.) Three store associates, as well as three Democratic members of the House of Representatives, called on the retail giant to pay all of its full-time workers at least $25,000 a year.

Wal-Mart is adamant: the pay is fair.

“We have hundreds of thousands of associates who are making $25,000 a year or more,” says Kory Lundberg, a Wal-Mart spokesman. “And the opportunity exists for those who aren’t to grow into the career they want. We promote 160,000 people a year.” Lundberg also explained how to parse some of Wal-Mart’s figures. The company has 1.3 million hourly workers, which led OUR Walmart to claim at the press conference that 825,000 of them made less than $25,000 a year. Lundberg points out that Simon’s presentation was referring to the 1 million who work in the stores. (The rest work as truck drivers and at the Bentonville (Ark.) headquarters, among other places.) So about 52 percent of its associates make less than $25,000 a year—not 63 percent.

The other side disagrees. As expected, the minimum wage workers demand - what else - higher wages.

“A decent wage is their demand—a livable wage, of all things,” said Representative George Miller (D-Calif.). The problem with companies like Wal-Mart is their “unwillingness, not their inability, to pay that wage,” he said. “They hand off the difference to taxpayers.” Miller was referring to a congressional report (PDF) released in May that calculated how much Walmart workers rely on public assistance. The study found that the 300 employees at one Supercenter in Wisconsin required some $900,000 worth of public assistance a year. Catherine Ruetschlin, an analyst at Demos, the progressive policy center, noted during the press conference that raising wages can be good for the overall economy. “Putting money into workers’ wallets puts cash in the registers of retailers, and with it the need for new employees,” she said. “We estimate that a raise to $25,000 a year would lead to at least $11 billion of new GDP and generate 100,000 new jobs.”

Trite platitudes aside - and if the workers are unhappy they sure can try to get a higher paying job elsewhere: surely their skillset is worth it - the reality as we pointed out in "When Work Is Punished: The Tragedy Of America's Welfare State", the comp more than half of WMT's workers get is actually in the sweet spot for "middle class" equivalent cash flow. Recall: "the single mom is better off earning gross income of $29,000 with $57,327 in net income & benefits than to earn gross income of $69,000 with net income and benefits of $57,045."

And that, incidentally, is precisely why the motivations of the lower and middle classes are so warped: because when those who think they are worse off making just below the magic cutoff level are in fact better than those who make $40,000 more in gross income, then the desire to work and be "aspirational", upwardly mobile simply disappears, and with it the marginal productivity of the economy.

As for the angry minimum wage Wal-mart employees, we have one piece of advice - look at the chart below...

... and realize why it is in your interest to make just as much as you are making and not a dollar more.

 

- advertisements -

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Thu, 10/24/2013 - 14:38 | 4087369 NOTaREALmerican
NOTaREALmerican's picture

Re:  Sam Walton must be spinning in his grave

Not if he beleived in the glory of "free enterprise" competition and survival-of-the-fittest (which I'm sure he did).

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 14:55 | 4087433 Zer0head
Zer0head's picture

$170k - that's just the beginning

check out the fleet of Walmart jets the regionals use to cover the territory it's a half trillion $ company with a couple of million employees that single handedly gutted manufacturing and the middle class in America, transformed China's economy from farmer peasants to factory peasants, reduced the quality of just about every product they sell, destroyed hundereds of thousands of local businesses. 

 

Sam Walton is spinning in his grave alright, on a spit over burning coals

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 22:10 | 4088864 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

always love your imagery Zero

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 14:29 | 4087315 william114085
william114085's picture

reminds me of the George Carlin joke:

 

"imagine how dumb the average person is....then realize half the population is even dumber"

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 14:36 | 4087360 NOTaREALmerican
NOTaREALmerican's picture

Re:  imagine how dumb the average person is....then realize half the population is even dumber

The Libertarian and Socialist utopian fantasies collaspe on that very simple reality.

Society exists the way it does because of it too.

Luckily, the guy in the mirror is always above average.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 15:15 | 4087546 therevolutionwas
therevolutionwas's picture

I'd say the libertarian theory is built on just such realities. 

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 15:00 | 4087460 GrinandBearit
GrinandBearit's picture

Even more funny when you realize that it wasn't a joke.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 14:33 | 4087334 epwpixieq-1
epwpixieq-1's picture

Agreeable the job opportunities ARE GREAT! 25K year, 97% of the world is living on a lot less than that.

This is not socialism, this is comu ... pardon, capitalism. Especially when one consider that on the rest of the world all these 25K earning people will be (most likely) jobless.

So do not complain, just say thanks or move somewhere else. At the end, every one has a choice, hasn't it?

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 14:33 | 4087340 silverserfer
silverserfer's picture

Slaves. Let not kid ourselves here. Shackles and whips have been replaced with paper and a name badge. 

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 14:38 | 4087371 Dave Thomas
Dave Thomas's picture

Every time you hear a Wal-Mart register beep an Asian gets it's wings!

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 14:40 | 4087378 yogibear
yogibear's picture

China-Mart.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 14:45 | 4087405 silverserfer
silverserfer's picture

Yes, China-Mart. we should rebuild detroit with factories that produce slightly expensive products that are made with quality parts that are made to last and don't need to be replaced for years. we can flood the Chinese market with them. that'll show em! 

Fri, 10/25/2013 - 05:31 | 4089395 Incubus
Incubus's picture

Detroit cannot be rebuilt until the indigenous peoples are removed/killed one another off/eradicated.

 

I'm not one for eugenics, but that place is a lost cause as long as any "survivor" walks those streets.  Gentrify the fucking place and send the riff raff to mexico.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 14:44 | 4087392 Jack Burton
Jack Burton's picture

I am surprised that so many make such high wages. Seriously, Wallmart ain't as bad as I thought. In today's job market a full time job that pays that kinda money is not so easy to get. Remember, tens of millions of working age Americans have dropped out of the labor force! So a Wallmart job must be hard to get and sought after by 20-30 unemployed for every opening. This is a sign of a globalized labor market here in the US.

Off topic, anyone read how US computer hardware sales in China have collapsed after the news that NSA has made AMerican computer companies put an NSA backdoor into everything they sell? It true, sales have fallen off of a fucking cliff! And it isn't just China. All around the world, any American hard ware or soft ware seller must answer their customers questions about ALL products being backdoored straight to NSA head quarters. This is no joke. Billions of dollars and thousands of US jobs are going up in smoke as the world seeks to escape the giant spy machine that America has become. This story is not on the Main Stream media, and we know why! The computer companies are now fucked, and internet providers and routers and such are facing the same questions, even Brazil seeks to lay it's own cables to bypass US providers and routers, more US jobs are fucked.

The US government is not just a criminal enterprise and a fascist global spy machine, they are a giant fucking job killing machine and money printer. How do Americans put up with this? Why do they say "Oh, I don't care. If you are a loyal American, then you should respect the government's right to spy on your every word, thought and deed."

I never, ever thought I could live so long as to see America become the fucking shit hole that it is turning into. And for god's sake don't tell me to vote republican to sort the problem out, Bush had 8 fucking years to put America on the right path, do you remember where we were in 2008?????????????????????????????????????????

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 14:47 | 4087410 NOTaREALmerican
NOTaREALmerican's picture

Re:  And for god's sake don't tell me to vote republican to sort the problem out,

Red Team Blue Team fight fight fight.

But, regarding US computer sales...   It will be interesting to see if the NSA causes individual countries to start their own hardware and software companies.

The US is obviously at war with everybody, so everybody else better get prepared.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 22:15 | 4088868 DaveyJones
DaveyJones's picture

Nice post Jack

They really are incredibly evil

beyond where we imagined they could go

and they have miles to go before we sleep

Fri, 10/25/2013 - 05:40 | 4089401 sethstorm
sethstorm's picture

I am surprised that so many make such high wages. Seriously, Wallmart ain't as bad as I thought. In today's job market a full time job that pays that kinda money is not so easy to get. Remember, tens of millions of working age Americans have dropped out of the labor force! So a Wallmart job must be hard to get and sought after by 20-30 unemployed for every opening. This is a sign of a globalized labor market here in the US.

Desperation is quite the powerful force when held by employers.  While one may be technically willing, the ability to refuse choice was realistically non-existent for the applicants.

Look up the concept of Monopsony(one buyer, many sellers)* in economics and apply it to unskilled labor.  That explains the company and its actions, never mind the mindset of companies of that part of the US - the Southern "Know thy place" model.


re: OT material

The problem is that where are the people revealing information about Chinese (and Russian) actions?  It's not as if the PRC don't have a reputation for attempting such on foreign, First World infrastructure(Huawei for example, rejected in civilized countries like the United States and Australia).  Never mind that Russia still is (realistically) acting like they're the USSR in the same respect - just with slightly different colors.  Unlike those two countries, the US does not need to use intelligence agencies for industrial espionage - that is, the kind that kills off organizations like Nortel** - just national security. 

Let me know when Boeing kills off Airbus, since that's about the scale you're going to need.

As for the NSA, it's quite hard for them to do their job if the people that want to cause harm use the law against them.  Not the thing that you want to hear, but it's how things work in the world. 

 

* - While there are many employers, the worst you'd be doing is changing the term to oligopsony (few buyers, many sellers).  The same would apply given the relative similarity of actions between employers (reliance on government assistance, benefit dodging behaviors, general mistreatment of their staff as far as one can go)

** - Yes, Huawei did have a hand in killing off Nortel, never mind stealing tons of information from that company. 

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 14:43 | 4087394 Zer0head
Zer0head's picture

 

 

Store Manager

As a Store Manager, you'll provide supervision and development opportunities for management and hourly associates by hiring, training, mentoring, assigning duties, evaluating performance, providing recognition and ensuring diversity awareness. You'll also be responsible for financial performance of a store, with $50-$120 million in annual sales, by ensuring that sales and profit goals are achieved. The clarity, vision and management skills you bring will be key in helping Walmart make a difference in our customers' lives.

Responsibilities Include:

  • Driving sales in the facility by ensuring effective merchandise presentation, including accurate and competitive pricing, proper signing, in-stock and inventory levels and budgeting and forecasting sales.
  • Modeling, enforcing and providing direction and guidance to hourly associates and managers on proper customer service approaches and techniques to ensure customer needs, complaints and issues are successfully resolved.
  • Initiating, directing and participating in community outreach programs, and encouraging and supporting associates in serving as good members of the community, including establishing and maintaining relationships with key individuals or groups in the community.
  • Analyzing and interpreting reports; implementing and monitoring asset protection and safety controls; maintaining quality assurance standards; overseeing safety and operational reviews; developing and implementing action plans to correct deficiencies.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 15:48 | 4087698 FrankDrakman
FrankDrakman's picture

Why would anyone down arrow this clearly factual post?

And, when you look at it, it's a pretty basic list for anyone running a retail establishment, only your typical Walmartian is 100 times the size. Managing inventory alone would be a full time job, since doubtless many of the hourly workers are card-carrying FSA members who would have no qualms about helping themselves to an extra box of corn flakes, or a new TV. $170k seems fair; it might even be on the low side.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 17:11 | 4088027 Dewey Cheatum Howe
Dewey Cheatum Howe's picture

There is a cost of aggravation or hazard pay built into that salary no doubt.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 14:52 | 4087424 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

Walmart is a symptom not the problem. That is, unless one considers the stealing of trillions of dollars in wealth from the American people over the past 100 years by the criminals of the US Gov and FedRes not a problem.

 

I sure hope that Walmart one day stocks replacement blades for my guillotine.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 14:54 | 4087437 Flammonde
Flammonde's picture

It is baked into the cake since the start of the offshoring and the rise of automation.  With the distortions of the market caused by too few jobs chasing too many people  Americans lack all sense of class interest-except of course when they strike for higher wages and better benefits.  I attended a labor union picnic on labor day in Solano county California a few years ago and it was sponsored by the trade unions.  Principally, Pipefitters and Carpenters.  No American made products in parking lot; one american made tool set in the  raffle.  Union labor shops Walmart to save a little dough.  Bah.  The nation is in terminal decline.  Rotting from the head down. 

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 14:58 | 4087455 GrinandBearit
GrinandBearit's picture

Tenure at Walmart...

Now this is something to aspire to!

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 15:02 | 4087473 silverserfer
silverserfer's picture

"Welcome to Costco, I love you. Welcome to costco I love you.."

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 15:12 | 4087528 Billy Sol Estes
Billy Sol Estes's picture

Walmart is a front for government employment. Since most of their revenue is from EBT.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 15:14 | 4087548 Ruger556
Ruger556's picture

Walmart offers part time work and decent starting jobs for unskilled workers, they are willing to train you in the retail environment and if you do well you get promoted and can move up.  To complain about Walmart jobs makes no sense, they are paying retail wages, which aren't the best but under the circumstances, they are not getting highly skilled labor.  The real problem is the gov't giving out too many benefits and people like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4LWlkXRZ3CA

And people in general not wanting to work. 

Bashing Walmart and saying they should organize and strike will only drive up the cost of goods. Walmart will not be affected at all by higher prices, they still make the same profit..

Fri, 10/25/2013 - 04:48 | 4089375 sethstorm
sethstorm's picture

That sounds like it was straight from their playbook - excuse the situation because it's supposed to be that way.

That aside, they rely on the government to get that low.  If they had to actually feel the upward competitive pressure of wages, they'd actually have to give a damn and pay more for the same person at the same skill level.

Fri, 10/25/2013 - 06:09 | 4089416 Urban Redneck
Urban Redneck's picture

For that to happen... the government would have to stop suppressing competition to Walmart through high regulations and high taxes.

Which might work if the major factions that push for higher wages at Walmart weren't also pushing for MOAR COSTS AND MOAR BARRIERS TO ENTRY FOR POTENTIAL COMPETITORS (or anyone else offering a job).

So the STUPID people think their "Dear Leaders" (regardless of whether we are talking about Labor Leaders, Elected Leaders, Thought Leaders, or Facebook Friends) are on "their" side, when in fact they are facilitating the very Corporate Plantation System they "claim" to be fighting.

Useful Idiots, there's one born every minute.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 15:17 | 4087563 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

Walmart is dumping manangers over 50 years old (they get sick you know, and use healthcare).

Churn and burn baby!

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 15:26 | 4087617 lynnybee
lynnybee's picture

"at least $25,000 a year."   MINUS TAXES, MINUS FOOD EXPENDITURES, MINUS MEDICAL & DENTAL EXPENSES, MINUS A CAR PAYMENT, MINUS GASOLINE, MINUS ELECTRIC & WATER & SEWAGE BILL, MINUS SALES TAX, MINUS MINUS MINUS & don't even get me started.   good luck to all.  do your research.....in the 1950's only 1/2 of a wage earners paycheck went for necessities, & the rest was SAVED towards goals such as a new car or appliance or a family vacation.   who else remembers receiving a pay check, walking into any bank in the little town they lived in & cashing it regardless of whether you had an accout there or not.  & then, you would decide how to allocated your paycheck & what bills & when to pay them.    and, of course, we did save because we earned interest on our passbook savings acc't.   it's obvious "they" want all of us to be gone & those memories gone with us.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 16:43 | 4087923 joego1
joego1's picture

MINUS RENT

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 15:48 | 4087700 adr
adr's picture

I had a friend that became a Walmart store manager. When he got the job it was $150k a year.

In three years he had to pack up and move four times because Bentonville said so. Once to Charlotte, once to Denver, then Seattle, and then Battle Creek. He worked at least 60hrs a week, sometimes up to 80.

Even though the money was good, he quit because he had no life outside Walmart.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 21:30 | 4088751 therevolutionwas
therevolutionwas's picture

So?! 
Good for him for quitting.  He wanted a life outside Walmart.  Now he has it. 

It would be great if we all could make 150k a year and still have a life outside our job.

It would be great if we all could find a job we love so much we would do it even if we didn't get paid.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 16:14 | 4087815 GernB
GernB's picture

Well the alternative is either Walmart charges you more for its products, thus letting outsiders decide what all Walmart products are going to cost you and everyone else who depends on them. Or they cut their labor force to match what consumers are willing to pay, thus adding to the rolls of unemployed. Walmart is only an intermediary, paying abhor according to what consumers are willing to pay. And if cost increases mean consumers decide products are too expensive then those jobs go bye bye.

Where is it written everyone who works must be doing so as a career .

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 16:33 | 4087889 falak pema
falak pema's picture

Obama Admin wire taps 35 heads of state :

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/24/nsa-surveillance-world-lead...

Mutti is not the only one whose iphone was bugged.

What credibility has this regime and this country now?

They are worse than the USSR and its staring the world in the face.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 16:39 | 4087908 Trimmed Hedge
Trimmed Hedge's picture

$170K a year ain't bad!

Then again, you'd have to work at a Wal-Mart...

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 22:53 | 4088980 Herd Redirectio...
Herd Redirection Committee's picture

NY Bankers get $300k for their soul, annual.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 16:45 | 4087935 monad
Thu, 10/24/2013 - 16:58 | 4087982 gatorengineer
gatorengineer's picture

every free marketer here on the Hedge should applaud this story.  ITS SUPPOSED TO SUCK TO BE POOR.  Bootstraps.

 

End welfare as we know it for the 90% of the queens on it.  Want to eat.  Work at wally, McD's, or go high end to Starbucks.

 

Contrary to 90 percent of  the above lets get the DEFLATIONARY spiral started.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 17:09 | 4088020 deerhunter
deerhunter's picture

170k a year ain't bad.  Hell,  I worked as an executive chef back in the 80's and except for one gig I always worked 60 to 70 hours a week.  I knew it going in and negotiated accordingly.  You haven't much of a social life but you know that going in as well.  The world doesn't owe anyone a living.  Ever. Period.  I don't see anyone chained to a cash register at Walmart.  We were just in an "employee owned" grocery store in the midwest here and the cashier had to complain that her raise was ten cents an hour.  She wouldn't work for me another shift.  I saved a well known restaurant 380K by holding kitchen help to proper recipe portions,  eliminating the thieves (3),  and getting rid of overtime by hiring and training the right people.  At the end of my year there they gave me a 2k annual raise.  It was an insult and I was gone in three weeks after finding new employment.  That is the nature of business.  I am amazed by the companies that think they can do that to people and expect to keep good employees.  Some learn some don't.  There is a problem with part time people being fed by you and me and in a lot of cases medical care as well.  I am 58 and was let go when a 42 year old family owned company went belly up as a result of the 2009 debacle.  I have not had health insurance nor my wife for three years.  I work a straight commission gig.  No work, no production,  no pay.  No one owes me health insurance,  never have never will.  When I decide to buy a catastrophic coverage policy,  I will.  Not the government,  not Obama or anyone else.  This country has lost its balls,  its backbone and its will to succeed.  It is a sad day if that is all you allow yourself to dwell on.  OH,,,, and I just got rear ended at a redlight buy a guy busy talking on his cell phone.  Over 2k in damages and a sore neck already.  Hey, I just found out where I could have spent that 2k from the 80's restaurant if I would have stayed. OHHHHH meeee the regrets.

Fri, 10/25/2013 - 06:06 | 4089413 sethstorm
sethstorm's picture

I don't see anyone chained to a cash register at Walmart.

The desperation for a less competitive deal makes up for the lack of visible force. 

 

The world doesn't owe anyone a living.  Ever. Period.

So you essentially want the US and its citizens to bow before the world(that is, taking that you think the US owes the world) if economics dictates it by some way?  No thank you, but I'll take the slings, arrows, and "imperialist" declarations that come with standing as the sole hyperpower in the world.  If the world doesn't play by the US's rules, the US does not owe the world anything.


I work a straight commission [redacted term].  No work, no production,  no pay.

So you are working with more risk to get less pay, less benefits and lower security of work as opposed to regularized (FT) work arrangements with a conventional (non-agency/non-temp) employer.  That's economic masochism (to vigorously deny one's own self-interest). 

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 18:10 | 4088207 AuEagleNest
AuEagleNest's picture

In 2012, Walmart made a gross profit of $119B. With one million employees, if they gave everyone an annual raise of $5000, that would cut their gross profit down to only $114B. How can they possibly get by on that?  /sarc

 

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 21:46 | 4088790 hooligan2009
hooligan2009's picture

well 17 billion profit anyway, theres that little matter of 88 billion in backhanders paid in bribes to chinese export officials

http://www.stock-analysis-on.net/NYSE/Company/Wal-Mart-Stores-Inc/Financial-Statement/Income-Statement

still a drop from 17 billion to 12 billion and a reallocation to wage earners may not be a bad thing, or they could continue to hire people to impoverish taxpayers even further by investing that 5 billion in more negative wealth effect store openings.

i mean...come on..is it so hard to see that wal-mart only cannibalizes everything it touches? i guess it also bribes the senate and the house...oh and the walbama nation state

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 20:45 | 4088624 q99x2
q99x2's picture

Arrest the Walton heirs and redistribute their stolen wealth into a open source monetary system that is owned and operated by the public. Convert Walmart stores to local dumps. Start to fill them with the junk that the stores are already filled with.

The Chinese are our enemies. M'Fers.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 21:20 | 4088727 therevolutionwas
therevolutionwas's picture

        If that wasn't a joke I do feel sorry for you.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 21:04 | 4088688 lovemesomeZH
lovemesomeZH's picture

I don't like walmart, but 99% of the workers are LUCKY to have a job there. they should be grateful and look to better themselves and get better skills for jobs in the future.

I look at walmart like fastfood. kids with no experience should be working there not grown men and women with kids and car payments.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 21:04 | 4088689 lovemesomeZH
lovemesomeZH's picture

I don't like walmart, but 99% of the workers are LUCKY to have a job there. they should be grateful and look to better themselves and get better skills for jobs in the future.

I look at walmart like fastfood. kids with no experience should be working there not grown men and women with kids and car payments.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 22:19 | 4088881 LiquidityandLunacy
LiquidityandLunacy's picture

Can someone explain to me how I get on welfare if I am single without kids? Thanks

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 23:25 | 4089075 hooligan2009
hooligan2009's picture

adopt a couple of teens

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 22:21 | 4088889 troubledasset
troubledasset's picture

Pathetic. Just above the poverty line. This is what the Obama Admin calls "job creation"

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 22:59 | 4088993 BigSpruce
BigSpruce's picture

I am no fan of Wal -Mart or any other large corporation for that matter  but what is the definition of a "liveable wage"  or an "average employee? $ 25,000  - 35,000? Hell while we are at it why dont we make $200,000 p/yr.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 23:58 | 4089159 AgentScruffy
AgentScruffy's picture

...and then there's the issue of the quality of worker. I've seen that vary from working very diligently (directed by an internal sense of conscientiousness) to those who look retarded and have a simpleton's task to do. (Sorry, but we all know it's true). And those who treat me like it's such a bother for me to ask them a question.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 23:00 | 4088996 “Rebellion to t...
“Rebellion to tyranny is obedience to God.”-ThomasJefferson's picture

The Mother f'ing Walton family of Arkansas are terrorists.

These pieces of shit have destroyed the fabric of American society and they should be hunted down like wild animals and eliminated.

 

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 23:18 | 4089056 Manic by Proxy
Manic by Proxy's picture

Who else should be hunted down like wild animals and eliminated? Who do you have in mind? How about Jews? Or maybe old people. How about the obese? And let's not forget that oldtime favorite, the Christians. It would be so perfect if a fat, old, Jew-for-Jesus was forced to run ala "The Running Man" on a pay-per-view cable extravaganza. Would that be good for you? It's just so popcorn ready.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 23:32 | 4089089 “Rebellion to t...
“Rebellion to tyranny is obedience to God.”-ThomasJefferson's picture

Where did the Jews come from?  You got a problem with Jews?  Get help.

If I was King for a day, I'd start with any and all US politicians for the past 20 years.  Next, I'd ask all bankers to have a good reason why they shouldn't be on the show you propose.

Great way to pay down the debt, if we go pay per view global.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 23:06 | 4089016 Manic by Proxy
Manic by Proxy's picture

George "Math Prodigy" Miller, the short-bus Rep from Califonia, claims that raising the annual wage for approximately half of a million workers will generate a hundred thousand new jobs. Yes folks, raising wages to a paltry $25,000 for 500,000 will magically create jobs at the rate of 20%. But wait, there's more. He also claims that this will add $11 billion to the GDP. That's a little more than $20,000 per raise-receiving worker. Since wages aren't part of the lie known as GDP, he must mean that these workers will spending their increase. So if they are being paid $25,000 and suddenly are spending $20,000 more than previously, that means they were being paid $5,000 annually. No wonder Miller is upset.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 23:07 | 4089021 tpgaynor
tpgaynor's picture
WALMART AND LOWE’S OFFER FREE HIP AND KNEE SURGERY Biloine W. Young • Mon, October 14th, 2013 http://ryortho.com/wp-content/themes/Ryortho/images/printIcon.gif); float: right; height: 20px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Print this article

In an attempt to both improve medical care and lower costs for their employees, several large employers—including Walmart and Lowe’s—have launched a national Employers Centers of Excellence Network (ECEN) that will offer no-cost (to the patient) knee and hip replacement surgeries for their employees.

The four participating centers are Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland; Kaiser Permanente Orange County Irvine Medical Center in Irvine, California; Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Missouri; and Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Washington.

David Lansky, president and chief executive officer of Pacific Business Group on Health Negotiating Alliance (PBGH-NA), told The Suburban Times of Lakewood, Washington, “These companies are working to help make sure that their employees get higher quality care and incur lower costs. The Employers Centers of Excellence Network is designed to serve as a model for delivering high quality health care with transparent and predictable costs.”

The national Employers Centers of Excellence Network will provider knee and hip replacement surgeries for the more than 1.5 million employees and their dependents enrolled in Walmart’s, Lowe’s and other large employers’ medical plans. Employees will be covered at 100% without deductible or coinsurance, plus travel, lodging and living expenses for the patient and a caregiver. The program is voluntary and employees or their covered dependents can still choose to receive care from local providers and incur routine costs.

“This national program is about providing our associates with exceptional care and reducing their medical costs so that they pay nothing out of pocket when they use one of the designated facilities,” said Sally Welborn, senior vice president of global benefits at Wal-Mart, “Each of these providers has a proven record of practicing evidence-based medicine with above average positive patient outcomes in knee and hip replacement procedures.”

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 23:31 | 4089090 hooligan2009
hooligan2009's picture

sounds good...lets check that out..

http://www.surgery.com/procedure/hip-replacement-surgery/demographics

Demographics

Between 200,000 and 300,000 hip replacement operations are performed in the United States each year, most of them in patients over the age of 60. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), only 5–10% of total hip replacements as of 2002 were in patients younger than 50.

 

ok...hmmm..im sure the maths works something like 1/300th of the population works at wal-mart. (1 million out of 300 million)..maybe walmart is a pretty good sample of the population..so that would be between 666 and 1,000 people that will help...not bad i guess...quid pro quo..would you work at walmart if it caused more hip and knee damage than other jobs?

 

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 23:11 | 4089032 tpgaynor
tpgaynor's picture
WALMART AND LOWE’S OFFER FREE HIP AND KNEE SURGERY Biloine W. Young • Mon, October 14th, 2013 http://ryortho.com/wp-content/themes/Ryortho/images/printIcon.gif); float: right; height: 20px; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;">Print this article

In an attempt to both improve medical care and lower costs for their employees, several large employers—including Walmart and Lowe’s—have launched a national Employers Centers of Excellence Network (ECEN) that will offer no-cost (to the patient) knee and hip replacement surgeries for their employees.

The four participating centers are Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland; Kaiser Permanente Orange County Irvine Medical Center in Irvine, California; Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Missouri; and Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Washington.

David Lansky, president and chief executive officer of Pacific Business Group on Health Negotiating Alliance (PBGH-NA), told The Suburban Times of Lakewood, Washington, “These companies are working to help make sure that their employees get higher quality care and incur lower costs. The Employers Centers of Excellence Network is designed to serve as a model for delivering high quality health care with transparent and predictable costs.”

The national Employers Centers of Excellence Network will provider knee and hip replacement surgeries for the more than 1.5 million employees and their dependents enrolled in Walmart’s, Lowe’s and other large employers’ medical plans. Employees will be covered at 100% without deductible or coinsurance, plus travel, lodging and living expenses for the patient and a caregiver. The program is voluntary and employees or their covered dependents can still choose to receive care from local providers and incur routine costs.

“This national program is about providing our associates with exceptional care and reducing their medical costs so that they pay nothing out of pocket when they use one of the designated facilities,” said Sally Welborn, senior vice president of global benefits at Wal-Mart, “Each of these providers has a proven record of practicing evidence-based medicine with above average positive patient outcomes in knee and hip replacement procedures.”

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 23:29 | 4089088 Heroic Couplet
Heroic Couplet's picture

If you want a better job, use a Republican politician's office to conduct your job search.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 23:45 | 4089129 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

FUCK WALMART!!!

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 23:53 | 4089147 I Write Code
I Write Code's picture

Walmart $25k might be merely lower middle class out in Podunk with a lower cost of living, but Walmart sells in big urban areas too where the real cost of living is on the order of 2x higher.  So they could pay $40k in Los Angeles and it would raise their average, but it wouldn't mean any more.

Now, I'm happy they're there and overall I suppose they are a positive force (though I'm much more of a Target guy myself).  And maybe a lot of those under $25k just do it for the fun, and have another part-time job that pays better, and are happy or at least getting by on the situation.

But what's clear is that it ain't the American Dream, is it.

Thu, 10/24/2013 - 23:56 | 4089153 AgentScruffy
AgentScruffy's picture

Great. So welfare enables Walmart to pay employees very little, while giving them more to spend--at Walmart.

Fri, 10/25/2013 - 00:31 | 4089205 yogibear
yogibear's picture

And the US dollar is dropping like a rock  tonight.

Nice break-down of a flag on the US dollar. 

DOwn it goes....

Fri, 10/25/2013 - 02:22 | 4089310 Debugas
Debugas's picture

$25000 a year is still very good wages, it is more than majority of the rest of the world earns

Fri, 10/25/2013 - 03:22 | 4089348 Notarocketscientist
Notarocketscientist's picture

Want to see what the collapse looks like?  Make sure you are sitting down - then watch this - it's not pretty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQaw2fix3q0

Fri, 10/25/2013 - 04:11 | 4089362 Loophole
Loophole's picture

Why should WM pay its workers anymore than the market value of their services? It is a profit making company, not a welfare program. As for the fact that "we" are paying their health benefits, etc, where does it say that workers are entitled to health benefits? And more, "we" don't pay those benefits. Only productive people and enterprises do. Enterprises like WM.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!