Wal-Mart Heads State Agency's List Of Employees On Welfare
Last updated Wednesday, March 16, 2005 10:00 PM CST in Business
By Anita French
The Morning News
A state survey shows Wal-Mart heads the list of the top 10 employers in Arkansas whose workers are receiving state aid.
The Department of Human Services in Little Rock released figures Wednesday showing that, out of Bentonville-based Wal-Mart's 44,368 employees in Arkansas, 3,971 -- or 8.9 percent of its work force -- receive public assistance of some kind.
The state of Arkansas was next with 3,004 of its 51,405 employees receiving public assistance, or 5.8 percent of its work force. Others on the state's top 10 list included Tyson Foods of Springdale and McDonald's.
Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman said there was no way to verify the state's numbers.
"It's basically a hand count. There's no real statistical data," he said. "We do not design our plans to be supplemented by public assistance nor do we encourage our associates to apply for these programs. As the nation's largest employer we will almost by default be the largest on any type of list."
Fogleman said Wal-Mart commissioned its own nationwide survey in December that showed Wal-Mart employees have health care coverage at about the same rate as other retailers.
Kathy Deck, associate director of the Center for Business and Research at the Sam Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, said the figures for Wal-Mart are "not terribly surprising, given that many of these employees don't necessarily have full-time jobs and obviously aren't making a tremendously large wage."
"Wal-Mart has a relentless attitude towards cost-cutting, and employee costs are not different than the cost of products," she said. "The fact that 8.9 percent are on public assistance doesn't seem terribly shocking."
Fogleman said the average hourly wage for a full-time worker at a Wal-Mart store in Arkansas is $9.18.
Julie Munsell, a spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services, said the agency went through 350,000 files of people drawing Medicaid, employment assistance or food stamps to compile the number of those who worked for the top 10 employers in Arkansas, as reported by the Arkansas Department of Economic Development.
"It doesn't factor into their eligibility. It's just a matter of finding some data on job resources -- the kind of jobs that clients are getting and job retention," she said previously.
It's not the first time Wal-Mart has headed such a list. At least eight other states have released similar data, Alabama being the latest until this week. It released a survey in February showing Wal-Mart workers' children account for 3,864 children on the Alabama Medicaid rolls at a cost of between $5.8 million and $8.2 million. The next highest employer of children on public rolls was McDonald's, with 1,615 on Medicaid.
A 2002 Georgia state survey showed 10,261 of the 166,000 children covered by PeachCare for Kids -- a Georgia state health program -- had a parent working at Wal-Mart. That's 14 times the number for the next highest employer, Publix grocery store, with 734, according to newspaper reports.
Twenty-six states have introduced legislation to require states to disclose which employers are shifting health care costs to taxpayers.
Reader Comments (No comments posted.)
The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsibility of their authors. The Morning News does not review comments before their publication, nor do we guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by our comment policy. If you see a comment that violates our policy, please notify the web editor.
Not already registered?
