[FactoryReboot]

Walmart employees make so little they are often eligible for food stamps.

Walmart knows and teaches employees how to apply.

What kind of free market is that? You shouldn’t be allowed to pay your employees so little that they are eligible for government benefits.

To me this issue seems like something that both political parties would take issue with.

[virtuous_signal]

>> You shouldn’t be allowed to pay your employees so little that they are eligible for government benefits.

Although a common talking point, it is not inherently a bad thing that low-wage workers can qualify for welfare [1] and it's probably less distortionary to the free market than mandating a higher wage. As an analogy, pretend that the government has decided it would be a good idea that everyone be able to eat apples. It is absolutely better to target an appropriate amount of money at the poorer population so that everyone can afford them, than to dictate that the apple seller must lower their apple prices. The latter would result in less people overall having apples (due to the seller restricting their supply or just shutting down).

[1] https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/does-the-government-subsi...

[neilwilson]

"(due to the seller restricting their supply or just shutting down)."

The appropriate thing to do then is for the state to use the labour that they would otherwise subsidise to produce apples.

Which makes sense since the actions of the suppliers shows that there is no more productive advantage in paying a profit share. They are incapable of using the shortage of labour market signal to innovate and automate - thereby producing more with less.

Subsidy is never good for the free market. Nor is giving a monopoly over supply to capitalists. Capitalists should know that they are only permitted to exist where they drive forward productivity. Once they cease to do that in a market segment, then they are out of business.

Free markets only work when both sides can say 'no deal'.

[krickkrack]

Walmart only makes less than $7k per employee. They have 2.2million employees. Regardless of the common narrative - they simply can't afford to raise all of their employees wages by any meaningful amount with their current profits.

[albatruss]

Walmart makes over 200k in revenue per employee. Using profit to make your point is not applicable if honest. Otherwise you would advise Amazon to cease hiring altogether in all those years they were seemingly losing money per employee.

[dehrmann]

Walmart's profit margin is 2.20% (that's a very low number). That's an extra $4,400 per employ at most.

[throwawaysea]

How can we know that? The profit margin that is publicly known is after spending that might be optional. For instance, Walmart could forego some investment like building a new store, or expand more slowly, and be able to pay higher wages that go beyond the buffer of their current profit margin as a result.

[dehrmann]

> The profit margin that is publicly known is after spending that might be optional. For instance, Walmart could forego some investment like building a new store, or expand more slowly...

You can see cap ex on their cash flow statement and create all sorts of hypothetical profit margins for them. Walmart can't actually take a hit like that because their monopoly power isn't strong enough. Their game is low prices. If they grow slower, they'll start losing market share to the dollar stores, Target, etc. If they raise their prices, the same thing happens. It's different when labor is in short supply or you want more skilled labor. Starbucks pays more and hires somewhat overqualified baristas because they see value in it and offering a premium experience.

[djbebs]

Walmarts finances are public, you need only read their latest 10-K and youll have a pretty good idea of how much money they make.

[krickkrack]

Revenue is largely irrelevant in either case.

And why would anyone treat an established retailer like a high-growth company? That makes no sense.

[xupybd]

Why not boycott Walmart?

If low pay is an ethical concern shouldn't people take aim with their own purchasing power?

[ganoushoreilly]

Anecdotally, The US Military also gives these same classes to Junior Enlisted as they too often qualify for Food Stamps and they are in a Government funded job.

[anm89]

It clearly isn't a free market if the whole premise is a non market based transfer payment.