The federal government is better at creating low-paying jobs than Wal-Mart and McDonald’s combined, according to a new report.
A study released earlier this month from the public policy group Demos states that through various forms of government funding in the private sector, nearly two million people are making $12 an hour or less. The number of workers at Wal-Mart and McDonald’s together at $12 an hour or less is currently around 1.5 million, according to the report.
“The sheer number of those workers making so little is surprising,” said Amy Traub, a senior policy analyst at Demos and co-author of the study.
“We assume people working on behalf of America would be making more, but that’s not the case,” Traub said. “And many of these people are making less than $12 an hour.”
The report says that when tax dollars underwrite bad jobs, the economy as a whole is weakened.
“People at these levels of income have to go on food stamps or other forms of government assistance and this just compounds the problem,” Traub argued. “They’re not making a living wage and the economy suffers.”
Federal contracting to the private sector has grown over the years, doubling between 1990 and 2009, though it has decreased slightly since 2010, according to the Demos survey.
Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor
via Wal-Mart vs. the Feds: Who’s the Low-Wage Job King?.
Related Posts
US / The majority of lowest-paid workers are employed by large corporations
The majority of America’s lowest-paid workers are employed by large corporations, not small businesses, and that most of the largest low-wage employers have recovered from the recession and are in a strong financial position. Specifically: * The majority (66 percent) of low-wage workers are not employed by small businesses, but rather by large corporations with … Continue reading »
US vs OECD / Minimum Wage Is Relatively Low
President Barack Obama proposed last night that the United States raise the minimum wage to $9.00 per hour. While that may seem like a massive raise for low earners — the current minimum wage is $7.25 per hour — we learned that when accounting for the impact of inflation this would be far from the … Continue reading »
Inclusive labor-market institutions: the most effective general remedy for low-wage jobs
“Over the last two decades, high – and, in some countries, rising – rates of low-wage work have emerged as a major political concern” writes John Schmitt in Low-wage Lessons (Choosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor to follow) According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in 2009, about one-fourth of U.S. workers were in low-wage … Continue reading »
Job Market Monitor 
Discussion
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Pingback: Wal-Mart Employees – Would be better if they could go to another company and another job and make more money and develop says Bill Simon, CEO | Job Market Monitor - March 12, 2014