This is just part of how tax payers subsidize the labor force of the 1%

[aaaaaa5a]

Two studies released today make some different calculations to determine the total cost to American taxpayers of a large, low-wage workforce. It comes to an average of $7 billion a year. That’s the amount of annual public assistance families of fast-food workers received between 2007 and 2011, according to a new report written by economist Sylvia Allegretto and others, sponsored by the University of California at Berkeley’s Labor Center and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and funded by Fast Food Forward, the group that helped organize the summer’s labor strikes. The authors used publicly available data.

The report calls out the fast-food industry for its low wages, citing a median salary of $8.69 an hour and a history of offering part-time work. That might have been fine when those behind the counter were mostly teenagers living at home. These days, though, 68 percent of fast-food workers are single or married adults who aren’t in school—and 26 percent are raising children.



Source:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-15/mcdonalds-low-wages-come-with-a-7-billion-side-of-welfare


Retail giants like Walmart are no better.




Walmart in Wisconsin

The report begins:

“While employers like Wal-Mart seek to reap significant profits through the depression of labor costs, the social costs of this low-wage strategy are externalized. Low wages not only harm workers and their families—they cost taxpayers.”

How much? About $5,815 per employee, they say. The Democratic staff members analyzed data from Wisconsin’s Medicaid program, which released data on enrollment by employer as of the end of 2012. Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) ranked first on the list, with 3,216 of its employees enrolled in Wisconsin’s Medicaid program, called BadgerCare+. The authors assume that the workers who are on Medicaid would also be receiving reduced-price school meals, housing assistance, and other help. They figure that at a single Supercenter in Wisconsin, the 300 or so employees would rely on public assistance programs that cost $904,542 a year.



Source:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-03/are-american-taxpayers-subsidizing-walmarts-low-wages

[Turbineguy]

1. $7 billion?

Shit! We could shut down the government for a week with that!

[Laelth]

2. k&r for the truth, however depressing it may be. n/t

-Laelth

[leftstreet]

3. DURec

[Cleita]

4. So instead of a fight through the front door to raise wages,

maybe we should take a back door approach and bill these companies to reimburse the government for what it spends in welfare programs plus 50% in fines as well. When they start paying living wages and providing benefits then the bills and fines stop. Now who in congress will step up to the plate to make this happen?

[aaaaaa5a]

5. +1 nt

[CrispyQ]

6. Not my senators! But I'm going to write to them anyway.

Last edited Sun Oct 20, 2013, 01:52 PM - Edit history (1)

That is a great idea! I'm going to compose a letter & send it to my congress critters. There's another thread out there with more graphics & how much we subsidize some of the individual chains. I'll include that info too.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023885555


on edit: Done. Emails sent.