Wal-Mart promises...

WAGES Most of Wal-Mart's hourly store associates in the United States work full time. That is well above the 20 to 40 percent typically found in the retail industry. The average wage for regular full-time associates is $9.68 an hour.

EMPLOYEE HEALTHCARE Wal-Mart offers affordable healthcare coverage to its full- and part-time associates. Historically, Wal-Mart has paid about two-thirds of the cost of the Associates' Medical Plan. Coverage is available for as little as $11 per month for individuals and 30 cents per day for children.

EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT BENEFITS In recent years, Wal-Mart has contributed 4 percent of an associate's eligible pay to the combined profit sharing & 401(k) plan. Hourly associates, like management and executive associates, receive bonuses and other incentives.

EFFECT ON BUSINESSES New businesses spring up near Wal-Marts, and existing stores flourish as they take advantage of the increased customer flow to and from Wal-Mart stores. The most definitive study of this issue showed average increases of 50 retail jobs in communities five years after the entry of Wal-Mart.

EFFECT ON COMMUNITY Wal-Mart grocery prices are 17 to 20 percent lower than other supermarkets, which has the greatest benefit for a community's low-income families. A recent independent study showed Wal-Mart saved working families about $2,300 per household, per year. The typical Supercenter raises or gives $30,000 to $50,000 a year to local charitable organizations ranging from youth programs to literacy councils.

SOURCE: Official Wal-Mart website, walmartfacts.com

...Critics don't buy it

WAGES In 2003, it was reported that sales associates, the most common job at Wal-Mart, earned on average $8.23 an hour for annual wages of $13,861. The 2003 poverty line for a family of three was $15,260.

EMPLOYEE HEALTHCARE Wal-Mart only covers 48 percent of its employees with insurance. On average, large firms (200 or more workers) cover approximately 68 percent of their employees. Wal-Mart's part-timers -- anybody below 34 hours a week -- must wait two years before they can enroll. Moreover, part-time employees are ineligible for family healthcare coverage. Full-time hourly employees must wait 180 days (approximately six months) before being able to enroll in Wal-Mart's health insurance plan. Nationally, the average wait time for new employees to become eligible is 1.6 months. For the retail industry it is 2.8 months.

EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT BENEFITS Wal-Mart sponsors two retirement plans -- a profit-sharing plan and 401(k) plan -- neither of which guarantee workers a fixed monthly pension benefit. Wal-Mart has shifted risks to employees by concentrating investment in its own stock.

EFFECT ON BUSINESSES Over the course of a few years after Wal-Mart entered a community, other retailers' sales of men's and boys' apparel dropped 44percent on average, hardware sales fell by 31 percent, and lawn and garden sales fell by 26 percent. In towns without Wal-Marts that are close to towns with Wal-Marts, sales in general merchandise declined immediately after Wal-Mart stores opened. After 10 years, sales declined by a cumulative 34 percent.

EFFECT ON COMMUNITY One 200-employee Wal-Mart store may cost federal taxpayers $420,750 per year in such hidden costs as free and reduced lunches for Wal-Mart families, and low-income housing and energy assistance. When an employer pays low wages to its employees, the employees have less money to spend on goods and services in the community, which in turn reduces the income and spending of others in the community. In other words, a reduction in wages has a multiplier impact in the surrounding area.

SOURCE: WakeUpWalmart.Com, a website of United Food and Commercial Workers International Union

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