If WalMart Jobs Are So Terrible Then Why Do So Many People Want One?

[aGameOfThrones]

Mark Perry has a nice little point here. If we listen to some of the activists on the WalMart issue then we’re told that the jobs at the store are just terrible. The pay, the conditions are appalling: which leaves us with the mysterious question of why so many people seem to want a job at WalMart:



"There’s a lot of rhetoric, especially from the left, that is very dismissive of working at Walmart. Go the Wikipedia entry for “Criticism of Walmart” and you’ll find references to the following criticisms of being a Walmart employee: low wages, poor working conditions, being forced to work off the clock, being denied overtime pay, not being allowed to take breaks, violations of child labor laws, instances of minors working too late, during school hours, or for too many hours in a day, labor racketeering crimes, sexual discrimination, limiting or eliminating health care benefits, poorly-run and understaffed stores, etc. You get the idea – it must be a pretty terrible place to work, right? But then why do so many people actually want to work for the retail giant, based on the huge number of applications that Walmart receives every time it opens a new store?"

Perry then goes on to point out that the new Washington DC stores received 23,000 applications for only 600 positions. That’s a multiple of the number of applications there are for each and every place at Harvard. So, if the jobs are so terrible then why is it that so many people want to have one of these terrible jobs?

The answer is of course that the WalMart jobs are better than the alternatives. Those alternatives could be not having a job at all, working in fast food say, or at Target TGT +1.2% or wherever. The one thing we do know is that those WalMart jobs are better than one or all of those alternatives. This is revealed preferences in action: that people apply for the jobs means that they want them.

Given this it’s now obvious what should or could be done to make those jobs at WalMart better. Which is not to go shouting at that company at all. Rather, it is to encourage more people to set up more businesses offering other jobs. As those alternatives proliferate then those offering the best opportunities and working conditions will get the workers and those offering bad conditions and or pay will find that they have to improve them in order to retain their workforce.



http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/12/08/if-walmart-jobs-are-so-terrible-then-why-do-so-many-people-want-one/?partner=yahootix

[Cutlerzzz]

Because if you work for Walmarx then you hate 'Merica's other businesses. Also China, tariffs, illegals, and welfare.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

I stopped reading the article when they quoted "Wikipedia."

Wikipedia and Walmart: The champagne and steak for a society that just doesn't care anymore.

[aGameOfThrones]

I stopped reading the article when they quoted "Wikipedia."

Wikipedia and Walmart: The champagne and steak for a society that just doesn't care anymore.

I just read the title.

[acptulsa]

Well, let's see. If the fedgov is working every day of the legislative session dreaming up new ways of destroying small businesses, then Wally World is bound to get the Benefit of the Desperation, right..?

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

I just read the title.

How dare you! Heh heh.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

Well, let's see. If the fedgov is working every day of the legislative session dreaming up new ways of destroying small businesses, then Wally World is bound to get the Benefit of the Desperation, right..?

Don't forget local government. I recently talked with two businesses in our city limits who were told to take down their signs because they were too close to the street. One store sits off the road. I didn't even know they existed for five years because they could not properly advertise. That one is a health food store.

The other place is auto repair. Didn't really notice them either.

[Ronin Truth]

Everybody hates Wal-Mart except the customers (and the stockholders). They must be doing something right.

[tod evans]

I don't hate Wal-Mart.

But it a real shame that points to the status of our economy when people line up to work there.

[Anti Federalist]

Well, let's see. If the fedgov is working every day of the legislative session dreaming up new ways of destroying small businesses, then Wally World is bound to get the Benefit of the Desperation, right..?

Not so hard to figure out, right?

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTInBtTn3u4U55Khupk2l4c7F9SXc5BL JYeb8I2pbNGdnLrzXPd

[erowe1]

I stopped reading the article when they quoted "Wikipedia."

Wikipedia and Walmart: The champagne and steak for a society that just doesn't care anymore.

The Encyclopedia Britannica probably doesn't have an entry for criticism of Walmart. Can you suggest a better reference for him to use to make his point?

Plus, generally speaking, Wikipedia is awesome anyway. I love it.

[RickyJ]

People like to eat and have a roof over their heads, that is why.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

The Encyclopedia Britannica probably doesn't have an entry for criticism of Walmart. Can you suggest a better reference for him to use to make his point?

Plus, generally speaking, Wikipedia is awesome anyway. I love it.


You're probably right. In this day and age, why wouldn't a Forbes writer and Adam Smith Institute fellow cite a volunteer encyclopedia?

[kcchiefs6465]

You're probably right. In this day and age, why wouldn't a Forbes writer and Adam Smith Institute fellow cite a volunteer encyclopedia?
Are the allegations sourced? Wikipedia is as good or bad as the sources.

It does seem kind of highschoolish to quote wikipedia though, in that forum. I'd imagine he could have clicked the sources, read them, and cited the relevant sections directly. He may have read the sources, and then found out the allegations were unfounded or exaggerated. Thus he simply quoted the wikipedia entry as evidence of the contempt many have towards Wal-Mart. Who knows.

All in all though, wikipedia is a great tool.

[Keith and stuff]

LOL. Good point. They aren't terrible at all. Of course, we all know that ;)

[parocks]

People like to eat and have a roof over their heads, that is why.

Right. People want Walmart jobs because they don't want to starve.

[Root]

I don't hate Walmart. Every now and then I find something useful in there for something I'm working on but for the most part I don't shop there.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

Are the allegations sourced? Wikipedia is as good or bad as the sources.



The sources are often as poor as scholarship gets. They often go to an editorial page for factual information. The links are often broken or just go to a general home page. The syntax, grammar, and punctuation look like a 5th grader's work.

Wikipedia itself acknowledged a few years ago that one in every seven edits is vandalism. That really begs the question why somebody would even use it. If the articles are sourced, I would just go to those sources.

That's not to say it does not have its advantages. The bibliographies can be useful. The vandalism is a deal breaker for me. By the way, did you know Roger Hollis' mistress was lesbian? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Hollis LOL.

[silverhandorder]

Walmart is great. I like how socialists and economically illiterate hate it. I gave up on trying to convince people. One voice makes no difference in the human tide that is public opinion. However entities like Walmart make a huge difference. Why has Walmart prospered even though people I mentioned hate it? Because they provide so much value to others that it can sustain such attacks. It also changes public opinion towards more freedom.

[kcchiefs6465]

Walmart is great. I like how socialists and economically illiterate hate it. I gave up on trying to convince people. One voice makes no difference in the human tide that is public opinion. However entities like Walmart make a huge difference. Why has Walmart prospered even though people I mentioned hate it? Because they provide so much value to others that it can sustain such attacks. It also changes public opinion towards more freedom.
They are not without just criticisms.

[satchelmcqueen]

i hate walmart because of their greed. i did work for them for about 5 weeks 2 yrs ago. trust me it wasnt easy to do it. i despised it. i did a good job for them but left as soon as other work came my way.

why did i work there if i hate walmart?
simple answer. all other options of work were gone. i have a wife and kids to take care of. my wife got laid off from a $35k yr job 3 months earlier and my land surveying job was all but done for. sometimes one must put their pride aside and go forward to provide. i tried all other options. there was none left.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

why did i work there if i hate walmart?
simple answer. all other options of work were gone.

Yeah, I think you do what you have to do. It's different for everybody, but I'd live in the woods before working at that craphole.

Just look at the customers' faces. I've never seen so many men with 4 holes in their t-shirts, and the most beaten down looks. The look of defeat.

[enoch150]

I knew two people who worked at Walmart. One made $8.50/hour working part time back in the late 1990's. I worked part time at Stop and Shop a quarter mile down the road and made $7.50/hour and I was part of the union and paid union dues. We were like 18 or 19 at the time. The union loving yuppies would only shop at Stop and Shop, though. The other one I knew was in 2005, he was full time, and made $23/hour. The Walmart employees also got store discounts.

Apparently Walmart gives a lot of merit pay to the employees who actually do a good job and those employees make more than comparable retail stores. It's the employees who don't work much and don't get merit pay that complain about low wages.

That being said, I also worked for a company that served as a vendor to Walmarts and they were terrible to do business with, compared to similar retail stores. They had all kinds of idiotic rules and their inventory was chaotic.