On Oct 21, 3:30 pm, Josh Hill  wrote:

> >> In 2001, sales associates, the most common job in Wal-Mart, earned on
> >> average $8.23 an hour for annual wages of $13,861. The 2001 poverty
> >> line for a family of three was $14,630. ["Is Wal-Mart
Too Powerful?",
> >> Business Week, 10/6/03, US Dept of Health and Human Services 2001
> >> Poverty Guidelines, 2001]
>
> >> A 2003 wage analysis reported that cashiers, the second most common
> >> job, earn approximately $7.92 per hour and work 29 hours a week. This
> >> brings in annual wages of only $11,948. ["Statistical Analysis of
> >> Gender Patterns in Wal-Mart's Workforce", Dr. Richard Drogin 2003]
> >> Wal-Mart Associates don't earn enough to support a family
>
> >> The average two-person family (one parent and one child) needed
> >> $27,948 to meet basic needs in 2005, well above what Wal-Mart reports
> >> that its average full-time associate earns. Wal-Mart claimed that its
> >> average associate earned $9.68 an hour in 2005. That would make the
> >> average associate's annual wages $17,114. ["Basic Family Budget
> >> Calculator" online atwww.epinet.org]



> Anyway, why do you assume that the sort of person who has to take a
> job at Wal-Mart -- and we aren't talking about moonlighting high
> school students, who are a tiny percentage of the workforce and don't
> work 29 hours a week -- have the skills, qualifications, and ability
> necessary to "move on to something better"? We aren't talking law
> school graduate here.

I'm wondering if those figures (e.g. $8.23 per hour) are based on an
average (mean) of hours worked, or if they're calculated in some other
way. If they're based on an average of hours worked regardless of who
works them, then employees who work more hours will contribute
disproportionately more to the average figure.

For example, suppose that a minor works 10 hours and that an adult
employee works 48 hours. If the average is calculated per employee
rather than per hour, then every cent (penny) that the minor earns
less than $8.23 counts 1-for-1 against every cent the adult employee
earns greater than $8.23. However, if the average is calculated per
hour worked regardless of who works those hours, then for every dollar
the adult employee earns per hour above $8.23, it counts against $4.80
less than $8.23 for the minor. So, even if the minor was earning as
little as $3.43 per hour, the adult employee would only need to earn
$9.23 per hour to counterbalance it.

It may be useful to consider median statistics as well as means, and
cross-reference these figures with the proportion of Wal-Mart
employees in each relevant demographic (e.g. age) category. Also, it
may be worth considering the proportion of *hours* that are worked by
employees in each demographic category, if the average figures are
based on hours as illustrated above.

Matthew
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