By Jody Knauss
PR Watch, Feb 20, 2015
To much fanfare, Walmart announced yesterday a program to raise wages for its lowest paid workers. ...
How big of a deal is the wage hike at the nation’s largest private employer? Was it an act of corporate benevolence? Or a reflection of labor market realities?
The increases will not fundamentally change the wage structure at Walmart. While there is little independent data on what Walmart workers are actually paid, the company forecasts the average hourly wage for full-time workers to rise 15 cents an hour, from $12.85 to $13.00, while the average for part-timers will bump up from $9.48 to $10.00 per hour.
Holly Sklar of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage notes many Walmart workers rely on foodstamps and other forms of public assistance to make ends meet. And “given that the buying power of the 1968 federal minimum wage is nearly $11 [per hour] adjusted for inflation, Walmart should be setting higher targets than $9 in April 2015 and $10 in 2016,” she said. ...