walmart number of associates

Meanwhile, one of the world's largest corporations is still on a roll. 's global sales . Its profits exceeded $15 billion. Its market value--$200 billion--has weathered the Great Recession and market crash and remains near all-time highs.Walmart employs an astounding 2.1 million people.  In the United States alone, the company employs 1.4 million people.  This is a staggering 1% of the U.S.'s 140 million working population.Walmart, in other words, matters. Its payrolls, and its pay, move the needle.And right now, many people argue, Walmart is very much part of the problem.The average Walmart "associate," , makes $11.75 an hour. That's $20,744 per year. Those wages are slightly below the national average for retail employees, which is $12.04 an hour. They also produce annual earnings that, in a one-earner household, are below the $22,000 poverty line.On the other hand, these wages are far above minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. They also aren't THAT FAR below the national retail average (only 2.5% below). In a two-earner household, moreover, these wages would produce a household income of $40,000+, which, in some areas of the country, is comfortably middle-class.  Walmart offers benefits to some of its employees, as well as store discounts and profit-sharing plans.Walmart's model Walmart employee. Probably not making $11.75 an hour.Most importantly, in an economy that is desperate to find some way to employ the ~25 million Americans who are either unemployed or under-employed, Walmart provides 1.4 million jobs.But Walmart is constantly under attack for reaming its associates, for paying them too little, for putting higher-paid workers at other companies out of work, for making a major contribution to the national problems described above.And with $15 billion of annual profits, Walmart could certainly afford to pay its employees more.So should Walmart pay its employees more? Should Congress pass a law FORCING Walmart to pay its employees more? If so, how much more? If Walmart did pay its employees more, what would happen? Would this begin to address some of the country's problems above?

Walmart Employs 1% Of America. Should It Be Forced To Pay Its Employees More? - Business Insider