What shopping at Walmart really costs

One Walmart's Low Wages Could Cost Taxpayers $900,000 Per Year, House Dems Find

Posted: 05/31/2013 12:31 pm EDT  |  Updated: 05/31/2013 3:59 pm EDT

Walmart wages are so low that many of its workers rely on food stamps and other government aid programs to fulfill their basic needs, a reality that could cost taxpayers as much as $900,000 at just one Walmart Supercenter in Wisconsin, according to a study released by Congressional Democrats on Thursday.

"When low wages leave Walmart workers unable to afford the necessities of life, taxpayers pick up the tab," the report says.

The report, entitled "The Low-Wage Drag on Our Economy," was produced by Democrats with the house Committee on Education and the Workforce, which is chaired by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.). The committee says it chose Wisconsin because the state's data "appears to be the most recent and comprehensive." The paper is an updated version of an earlier report by the same committee in 2004, which at the time estimated that a 200-employee Walmart store could account for $400,000 in public assistance for workers.

"The labor policies of Walmart, and those of companies that emulate its low-road approach, end up leaving taxpayers holding the bag," Miller said in a statement.

Critics have long denounced Walmart for paying such low wages that many workers are forced to take advantage of public-assistance programs like food stamps or Medicaid. (Notably, many Democrats who lament this scenario are strong backers of such programs.)

Aubretia Edick, a Massachusetts woman who earns $11.70 an hour and receives public assistance, food stamps, Section 8 housing, and state-funded health care, said her reliance on the safety net is one reason she plans to join the strikes. “Walmart doesn't pay my salary,” she said. “You pay my salary.”

When she started working for Walmart, she said, she had expectations that have since proved unattainable. “I thought I could make it on my own,” she said. "That didn't happen.”

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