Re: [StPaul] Wal-Mart and Living Wage (St. Paul-specific)

[Mike Fratto]

It would be interesting to see what the real numbers are.  If the average salary earned at Walmart is $17,000 and the majority of store workers earn that amount, it is actually a good figure.  However, one needs to consider the number of hours most employees work.  I doubt that in an average store there are many 40 hour workers.  Of course, I could be wrong.  If I am anywhere near correct on this, then the question is how much disparity is there between managers and floor or stock personnel wages..     Of course this average salary figure needs much more information to really make many comments about it.  Is this the average salary for Minnesota Walmarts?  Is it a corporation wide average salary?  Does Walmart distinguish between areas with high cost of living when setting wage and salary rates?    Mike Fratto Payne Phalen >>> erin stojan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 12/30/2003 4:06:05 PM >>> Hey folks,   I thought some numbers (you know, real-world stuff) might spruce things up a bit.  There has been some references made to the poverty level, and the living wage.  Bob Spaulding said that folks at Wal-Mart earn an average of $17,000.  By way of comparison, a few numbers that I've dug up (and I haven't worked super extensively with these figures, so please correct me if I mis-state or incorrectly use them): A living wage (110% of poverty line for family of four) in St. Paul for employers who provide health insurance (at least according to the City of St. Paul website) is $8.03/hr; for employers that don't provide health insurance, $8.83/hr.  This works out to be $16,702 (about $300 below our $17,000 average salary figure) and $18,366.40, respectively, gross, if I can still multiply right (reference: St. Paul Living Wage directive, http://www.newrules.org/equity/stpaul.html).  It's interesting to note that Minneapolis's living wage is $9.73/hr (http://www.newrules.org/equity/mpls.html).  The �Housing Wage�� the amount a person working full-time has to earn to afford a two-bedroom rental unit at fair market rent while paying no more than 30% of income in rent�is now a national average of $15.21 per hour (in MN, it's an average of $15.16.  Of course, since the TC is certainly among if not the most expensive housing market in MN, it's probably safe to assume that this average is higher for St. Paul).---"Out of Reach 2003," released Sept. 8 2003 by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. http://www.nlihc.org/oor2003/ Someone remarked at some point that average wages/salaries from Wal-Mart are meaningless.  Another observation would be that a $17,000 average would mean that there are quite a few folks that earn under that figure, particularly if that average includes the higher paid senior management corporate HQ folks.  Bob, I hope you'll comment on what that figure includes. Point being... seems that $17,000/year, according to almost every standard we have to measure it, is grossly insufficient for meeting basic living expenses, and heaven forbid you should try to support a family on it--meaning that, of course, the worker either gets another job or is on various government assistance programs (or, probably, a combination of both).  Another public subsidy of a multinational, billion-dollar corporation in our "free market" economy---and presumably one of the reasons St. Paul, at least, passed the living wage directive. Erin Stojan north end Paul Kuettel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: St. Paul E-Democracy Links http://www.e-democracy.org/stpaul/links.html _____________________________________________ Hi All! I have been overwhelmed at how the Walmart thread has re-energized this list....or is it just that everyone is on Christmas Vacation with time on their hands? The various rational and irrational takes on economics have been very interesting,, but we have strayed far from the scope of the list. I suggest that we have beaten the general topic of capitalism to death. Let us return to the original thread of the pros and cons of Walmart locating in Midway Marketplace, specifically, and in St Paul, generally. My position is that jobs is jobs. Take 'em or leave 'em. We have experienced a great influx of immigrants over the past decade, which had grown exponentially as more come and reproduce. Betty McCollum promises to put an upword spike on those stats next year. I wondered back in a political debate in '94 why disparate cultures from the mountains of Laos to the deserts of Somalia would be attracted to such a radically different climate (weather, political, social, religious, you name it). The glass-half full people responded that it is for education, jobs, opportunity in general. The half-empties used terms like "welfare magnet." I think both groups are correct to some extent. In '94 I was more in tune with the half-empties, but seeing the success of many of our new neighbors has softened my stance. To be sure, we ARE a welfare magnet, but kudos to those who have quickly worked their way out of it. Should an EVILLLL corporation like Walmart be allowed to fill a vacant retail space and compete with nearby Target, providing value for the dollar and entry-level jobs for hundreds of St Paulites, or should we simply pay more prope rty tax to Ramsey County for social services in order to keep the Midway Center/Marketplace/Target complex so very upscale and pristine? ;-) Builder's Square, Ikea, Walmart, Menards, etc. I say, Bring 'em ON! As Nahm used to say, "Gud fuh Saint Pawhl." Cheers and Happy New Year! PK St Paul born and bred, now keeping an eye on "my" city from my aerie in Falcon Heights, home of the Raptor Center. _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/ _____________________________________________ For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ------------------ BIG DISCLAIMER on Reiter/Fletcher issues:  "This summary is to the best of my recollection based on the above-mentioned sources.  Significantly, I did not have access to the written affidavits that were filed in the residency case.  Those documents, or others, may contain information that challenges or totally contradicts my account.  This is information available to the public; I have no knowledge of, and make no representations about, private information held by Ms. Reiter, Sheriff Fletcher, or others.  The views expressed are entirely my own.  I apologize in advance for any inaccuracies." ------------------------------------------ Erin Stojan North End, Ward 5 Do you Yahoo!? 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