By Dave Jamieson
WASHINGTON- If Walmart were to pay its employees a minimum of $12 an hour, what would that wage baseline do to the retail behemoth’s famously low prices? According to a new study, probably not much. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education argue that such a wage bump for the retailer’s lower-paid associates would translate into an extra cost to shoppers of about 46 cents per trip, or $12.49 a year, if the brunt of the increase was passed on to consumers. The study’s lead author, Ken Jacobs, claims that the findings support the idea of a “big box” wage ordinance that would set a minimum wage for large American retailers like Walmart who are entering urban areas. Such an ordinance failed to make it into law in Chicago a few years ago...[continued]
