A study released earlier this month from the public policy group Demos states that through various forms of government funding in the private sector, nearly two million people are making $12 an hour or less. The number of workers at Wal-Mart and McDonald's together at $12 an hour or less is currently around 1.5 million, according to the report.So nearly 2 million people make less than $12/hr. Okay, fine. Here's where the lie comes in: Note that the report only singles out Wal-Mart and McDonald's, to come up with the 1.5 million people. Why is that a lie? Because Wal-Mart and McDonald's are only TWO of the worst low-wage culprits--there's still AT LEAST NINE more to factor in:
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| Source: http://www.raisetheminimumwage.com/pages/corporate-profits |
So when you factor in all ELEVEN low-wage employers listed above, the number is a LOT higher than either 1.5 or 2 million.
The problem is with the private contractors the federal government hires. Low wages are a natural outcome of outsourcing from the public to the private. Costs are externalized (taxpayers foot the bill), while profits are privatized into corporate coffers and shareholder pockets. So what needs to happen is the federal government needs to better police and audit the private companies it doles out the contracts to. From the article:
The biggest offenders came from those companies receiving direct federal contracts. Some 560,000 workers in those firms make $12 an hour or less, says the report...Breaking down the sectors in all government funding shows retail— with 59,977 people making $12 an hour or less—the largest group with low wages.
Companies receiving some sort of government funding are mandated by law to uphold high employment practices including prevailing wages within a particular area of work. But the Demos report states that most firms are not holding up their end of the bargain and are actually creating a wage gap.
So it's a lack of oversight issue, not a "government is paying serf wages" issue. CNBC really missed the boat on this one. (The Demos report correctly concludes the general problem of lack of living wages, one of the primary causes of homelessness). News stories that fudge their numbers hurt, rather than help the cause of reinstating living wages in this country. Because two million is a small number of people compared to the many millions more wage slaves working for all eleven of the corporations shown above. So hit the hardest where it matters most and affects the largest number of people--instead of trying to make it look like the Feds are the worst offenders, when the problem is that they are asleep at the wheel, not that that makes it any better.
Keep in mind two things: 1) The federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25/hr since 2009. 2) If the minimum wage kept up with inflation, it would be $10.70. That $12/hr looks pretty good to the people stuck in $7.25/hr minimum-wage hell. But you still can't live on $12/hr ($12 x 160 hours assuming four 40 hour work weeks = $1,920 GROSS), let alone raise a family. Choosing bad ($12/hr) or worse ($7.25/hr) serves no one. Addressing why corporate profits are going in shareholder pockets (the Dow is currently above 15K) and not employees wallets goes a long way in showing what's wrong with this picture.
