Should Walmart Raise The Minimum Wage

657 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The effects of raising the minimum wage in the united states

According to Walmart’s website, with their revenue of $485.9 billion, they employ approximately 2.3 million associates worldwide. They clearly are one of the largest private employers. Because of this status, there are many opinions in the news that they can afford to pay their workers more. It has been written that Walmart workers have been protesting for years about the low wages that Walmart pays its employees and that’s why they voluntarily raised the minimum wage. I have mixed views regarding the reasons. First, let me say that it doesn’t matter the reason, it was a good move. In my opinion, this move was made for a combination of reasons. I would lean more on the side of supply and demand. I believe this move definitely had something to do with competitive retailers. If a large competing retailer such as Costco is paying $20/hour then you need to be able to be competitive with the workforce and not lose them to a better paying company. It’s very costly when an organization needs to re-train staff due to constant turnover. However, I say supply and demand with caution because as the wages get higher it could have a decrease effect in the quantity of labor available as well. Another …show more content…

Although, you could argue that Walmart could afford to make this increase, you have to remember that it can also cause many other effects as it relates to the stockholders. It has been said that the wage increase is expected to cost Walmart somewhere in the ballpark of $2 billion for the already agreed increase. This lost revenue is going to need to be recouped somewhere. Does that mean a smaller number of lower-skilled workers are employed? Does it mean more self-checkout counters rather than cashiers? I guess time will tell. At this point, I do not think Walmart should raise the wage to

Show More
Related

  • Deenu Parmar's Labouring The Walmart Way

    199 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Deenu Parmar's "Labouring the Wal Mart Way," the author discusses the business practices of Wal Mart, their impact on systemic poverty, and on existing work unions. Their business model forces competition to align with them, or close up shop. Wal Mart hires workers that would usually have a difficult time finding employment. That said, they pay them well below a living wage. Staff are also subject to abuses like overtime without pay. Wal Mart is resolute in their feelings towards unions. Their hiring process designed to cut out union sympathizers. This way, they can prevent any retaliation from staff seeking a better work environment. If anti-union efforts are unsuccessful, they close the store. It also forces existing unions to take pay

    Read More

  • The Minimum Wage Must Be Raised

    2107 Words  | 5 Pages

    "Plain and simple, Congress must act to meet the needs of our constituents. We can do that by strengthening families and increasing the minimum wage."

    Read More

  • Is Walmart Good Or Bad For Health And Social Care?

    1724 Words  | 4 Pages

    Today Wal-mart has a higher GDP than the entire country of Switzerland, but don’t worry they’re pretty neutral about it. But there has also been news about how they treat there employees. In 2004 an article was released entitled Everyday Low Wages: The Hidden Price We All Pay for Wal-Mart, and soon after Washington got involved. The bad publicity took a toll on Wal-mart and in fact is still today, Maryland passed a law in January, 2006, that said larger employers, such as Wal-mart, must spend at least 8% of their payroll on health benefits for their employees, and now many other states have followed suit. The bad publicity also made it so 8% of customers shop elsewhere because of what they’ve heard, this has caused lower expected sales around the holidays during 2004, and 2005. Some things they’ve done is in 2006 they paid employees on average 9.36 dollars, while other major retailers like Target and Sears pay on average 11.08 dollars. While this can be easily denied by Wal-mart, another way they have gained bad publicity is from something called off-the-clock work. If they had not finished their job they had to clock out and then still finish their job, meaning they wouldn’t get paid for

    Read More

  • The Minimum Wage Must Be Raised

    1033 Words  | 3 Pages

    "When we talk about the kind of folks whose lives will be made better by raising the minimum wage, we're not talking about a couple teenagers earning extra spending money to supplement their allowance. We're talking about providers and breadwinners. Working Americans with bills to pay and mouths to feed."

    Read More

  • Wal-Mart is Bad For America

    841 Words  | 2 Pages

    With Wal-Mart being so outrageously huge in this short of time, I believe that it has not yet settled into their customers why Wal-Mart is so cheap. Wal-Mart will replace higher wage jobs with lower wage jobs and require taxpayer assistance to keep Wal-Mart employees out of poverty. Numerous studies reveal that, contrary to the company's PR, Wal-Mart does not create new jobs when it comes to town. Wal-Mart simply replaces higher paying retail jobs with lower paying ones and, due to its adverse impact upon local businesses, may actually cause a net decrease in job numbers. The factories in China supply their employees with a whopping three dollar...

    Read More

  • The Minimum Wage Must Be Increased

    1581 Words  | 4 Pages

    "No family gets rich from earning the minimum wage. In fact, the current minimum wage does not even lift a family out of poverty."

    Read More

  • The Minimum Wage Must be Raised

    961 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Raising the minimum wage will benefit about 28 million workers across the country. And it will help businesses, too - raising the wage will put more money in people's pockets, which they will pump back into the economy by spending it on goods and services in their communities." -- President Obama

    Read More

  • Discrimination In Edward Scissorhands

    656 Words  | 2 Pages

    Another

    Read More

  • Social Conflict Theory

    597 Words  | 2 Pages

    By keeping their prices low, Walmart can easily pass that savings on to their customers and in return, their buyers are able to have a higher income and can spend their money on more products, preferably Walmart’s.

    Read More

  • Should The Minimum Wage Be Raised?

    1222 Words  | 3 Pages

    Should the minimum wage increased to $10.10 an hour? This has increased over the years and everyone has their opinions. Those who are in favor of increasing minimum wage to $10.10 believe that more money will decrease poverty and the unemployment rate. Those who oppose the increase in the minimum wage, believe that it should not be increased and should stay the same, because it will cause businesses to close up because they are not making enough money to survive in the economy An increase in minimum wage would have to make the employees work harder to make increase sales of the business. I believe that the minimum wage should not increase to $10.10.

    Read More

  • Wal-Mart's Argumentative Essay

    1214 Words  | 3 Pages

    Few companies create as much controversy as Wal-Mart has done with its approach to maintaining high profits with low costs. Individuals either love or hate Wal-Mart. There are consumers who like the low prices and convenience of shopping at Wal-Mart. Supporters of Wal-Mart also laud the fact that the company creates multiple jobs for not just the individuals who are employed within the stores but also those who create the products that are sold in the stores. Critics of Wal-Mart have issues with the treatment of those individuals who work at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has a poor track record when it comes to Fair Labor Practices by giving low wages, bad healthcare coverage, and treats employees. Low wages, no benefits, irregular schedules, and unreliable hours are just some of the horrible working conditions most Walmart workers have to endure.

    Read More

  • 10 Reasons Why Walmart Is The Worst Company In America

    1111 Words  | 3 Pages

    From this, it is clear that not everyone is a fan of the company. But where are this perspective coming from? It is just as likely for them to be from a biased outlet as the information they’re presenting being false. However, these perspectives can be easily counteracted by opposing ideas. One of which being the author stating the so-called “investing over $2.7 billion in wages” plan. Which I can confirm is true. In addition, since this plan was introduced in 2015, it has had a positive impact on the companies sales both in stores and online. The 200 training centers opened in 2015 as mentioned by the author, was a positive implementation in order to increase the minimum hourly rate. Before of which, had been a common complaint and issue associated with the company. Not only this, but there were endless complaints made about the company’s employee treatment, but it seems as though Walmart has acknowledged these complaints and in recent times has taken a step in the right direction. The author had not addressed much factual information regarding its suppliers and rather the “goals”

    Read More

  • The Minimum Wage Should Be Increased

    1846 Words  | 4 Pages

    Since its inception, the minimum wage has been a hotbed for debate. If today’s leaders could manage to increase minimum wage, millions of families would benefit.

    Read More

  • Walmart Essay

    893 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many employees claim low wages, no benefits, irregular schedules, and unreliable hours as some of the horrible working conditions they have to endure. Walmart employees put together different unions all the time to try and protest or strike about the wages, treatment and anything else that seems to come along with being an employee of Walmart. Walmart does not take well to these unions. Women of Walmart seem to have it the hardest though. As recently as 2013, despite the fact that women account for as much as 57 percent of Walmart’s U.S. workforce, women were paid $1.16 less per hour (Osterndorf). In an article about Walmart and how it treats employees wanting to take sick days, a woman in fear of losing her job at a North Huntingdon Walmart, went back to work even though she had doctors' notes and hospitalization recorded, which were both rejected by her supervisors, to excuse her from work due to a miscarriage. She was worried the she would get fired due to absences so she went back (Abrams). Walmart also does not give out good health care to its employees. There are many claims of Walmart cutting health care for employees or finding the cheapest possible solution for an employee's health care. In 2014, the company cut insurance benefits to its part-time employees (Osterndorf). In a New York Times article about health care called, Walmart to End Health Coverage for 30,000 Part-Time Workers, it stated

    Read More

  • The Minimum Wage Must Be Increased

    1491 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Of course, nothing helps families make ends meet like higher wages. … And to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it. If not, vote to give millions of the hardest-working people in America a raise.”

    Read More

More about Should Walmart Raise The Minimum Wage

Open Document