Henry Blodget, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Business Insider makes a strong case for why mega companies like Walmart, McDonald’s and Starbucks ought to pay their workers more and not so little that many of their employees are still poor.
Blodget explains that if these companies – Walmart, MCDonald’s and Starbucks – that employ 3 million people paid their employees more, workers would have more money to spend on these companies’ products, modestly boosting growth and profits. Other benefits would include, better and more dedicated employees, enhanced productivity and customer service, in addition to increased shareholders’ value.
Collectively, these employees have generated about $35 billion of operating profit per year and according to Blodget, “if the companies took, say, half of that operating profit and paid their employees an extra $5,000 apiece, it would make a big difference to the employees and the economy. The companies would still make boatloads of money, and the employees’ compensation would finally be above the poverty line.”
Blodget points out that, the decimation of American’s middle class has much to do with the low-paying service sector jobs, which are filled now by those who formerly worked in middle-class manufacturing jobs. And it’s the lost of good-paying jobs, not the loss of manufacturing jobs, that has helped wipe out the middle-class, he says.
So, the question is, Walmart, McDonald’s and Starbucks, how do you feel about paying your employees a little more so they don’t live below the poverty line?
