Wal-Mart Imports From China, Exports Ohio Jobs

[Excerpt] This report tells the stories of four Ohio companies that sell to Wal-Mart. The loss of jobs at the Huffy Corp., Rubbermaid, Mr. Coffee and Thomson factories in Ohio demonstrates how Wal-Mart pressures suppliers to send Ohio jobs overseas. These jobs exported by Wal-Mart suppliers represent just a handful of the hundreds of thousands of good jobs Ohio has lost in the new Wal-Mart economy. Other such Wal-Mart suppliers as Hasbro, Ohio Art, Texas Instruments Inc., Hoover, World Kitchen Inc. and Philips also have closed plants in Ohio

The Effects of Wal-Mart on Local Labor Markets

We estimate the effects of Wal-Mart stores on county-level retail employment and earnings, accounting for endogeneity of the location and timing of Wal-Mart openings that most likely biases the evidence against finding adverse effects of Wal-Mart stores. We address the endogeneity problem using a natural instrumental variables approach that arises from the geographic and time pattern of the opening of Wal-Mart stores, which slowly spread out from the first stores in Arkansas. The employment results indicate that a Wal-Mart store opening reduces county-level retail employment by about 150 workers, implying that each Wal-Mart worker replaces approximately 1.4 retail workers. This represents a 2.7 percent reduction in average retail employment. The payroll results indicate that Wal-Mart store openings lead to declines in county-level retail earnings of about $1.4 million, or 1.5 percent. Of course, these effects occurred against a backdrop of rising retail employment, and only imply lower retail employment growth than would have occurred absent the effects of Wal-Mart.

Walmart Sweatshop Litigation Dismissed

Document from the 9th Circuit Court in California dismissing charges brought up by employees of Wal-Mart\u27s foreign suppliers. The case was dismissed on the grounds that the plaintiffs did not state a claim against Wal-Mart, only its suppliers, which Wal-Mart had no legal duty to monitor

The Impact of Wal-Mart on Local Fiscal Health: Evidence from a Panel of Ohio Counties

This research analyzes selected fiscal impacts of Wal-Mart in Ohio from 1985 through 2003. Using a panel of counties, and accounting for spatial autocorrelation in an instrumental variable model I estimate impact of Wal-Mart and Super-Centers on selected revenues and transfer payments. On revenues I find that the presence of a Wal-Mart increases local commercial property tax assessments, resulting in collection increases of between $350,000 to roughly$1.3 million. Wal-Mart also is associated with higher levels of local labor force participation. On expenditures I also find that the presence of a Wal-Mart dramatically increases the per capita EITC claims in a county (between 18 and 43 percent), while the dollar value of these claims experiences mixed impacts between Wal-Mart and a Supercenter. Similarly, the impact of Wal-Mart on Foodstamps expenditures is mixed, but small in any case. There are no in-county impacts of Wal-Mart on expenditures on Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and its predecessor Aid to Families with Dependent Children. However, Medicaid expenditures experience growth which may amount to roughly 16 additional cases per county attributable to a single Wal- Mart. The per worker costs of Medicaid estimated in this study is consistent with reported levels in a number of states, and study estimates by Dube and Jacobs [2004], Carlson [2005] and Hicks [2005a]. The magnitude and statistical certainty of these findings, accompanied by a review of previous research suggests that local fiscal intervention, either through incentives or the much touted “Wal-Mart Tax” is unwarranted.

The Effects of Wal-Mart on Local Labor Markets

We estimate the effects of Wal-Mart stores on county-level retail employment and earnings, accounting for endogeneity of the location and timing of Wal-Mart openings that most likely biases the evidence against finding adverse effects of Wal-Mart stores. We address the endogeneity problem using a natural instrumental variables approach that arises from the geographic and time pattern of the opening of Wal-Mart stores, which slowly spread out from the first stores in Arkansas. The employment results indicate that a Wal-Mart store opening reduces county-level retail employment by about 150 workers, implying that each Wal-Mart worker replaces approximately 1.4 retail workers. This represents a 2.7 percent reduction in average retail employment. The payroll results indicate that Wal-Mart store openings lead to declines in county-level retail earnings of about $1.2 million, or 1.3 percent. Of course, these effects occurred against a backdrop of rising retail employment, and only imply lower retail employment growth than would have occurred absent the effects of Wal-Mart.Wal-Mart; Employment

Business Practices of Wal-Mart in Northwest Indiana

Wal-Mart symbolizes the strength of economic and commercial activity in any region. Wal-Mart has built a business empire on its low-cost model. Customers love Wal-Mart stores for its low prices. At the same time, Wal-Mart is under a barrage of criticism for labor practices and indirect burdens on our social and welfare programs. Some of the business practices of Wal-Mart like the employees’ wage-benefits package, and the underemployment of women and minorities are the subject of ongoing debate at the national level. Our main objective is to review this issue within a regional context. We examined whether what is being alleged about the business practices of Wal-Mart at the national level is mirrored at the regional level, like northwest Indiana. The findings presented are from a survey designed to analyze the impact of the business practices of Wal-Mart on customers and employees. Our results concur with earlier national studies that there are hidden costs for the community which shops and supports Wal-Mart and that a large number of employees are older, work part time, earn below the regional average income, and depend on state welfare programs. We found gender differences in employment, earnings, and career advancement opportunities. The price of low cost goods may be too high for the region economy and it will likely affect women more than men.discrimination, gender, cost, benefits

What Do Quarterly Workforce Dynamics Tell Us About Wal-Mart? Evidence from New Stores in Pennsylvania

In this paper I seek to better inform debate regarding Wal-Mart’s local impact on wages, and employment dynamics by combining data on Wal-Mart stores with the recently release Quarterly Workforce Indicators provided by the US Census. Use a panel of Pennsylvania counties, who saw entrance of a Wal-Mart in 2002, I find a new store has no effect on existing employee wages in the retail sector. However, new retail sector hires experience a roughly $0.50 an hour increase in total compensation in the quarter Wal-Mart enters. The entrance of a Wal- Mart draws employees from existing businesses, reducing job creation while increasing net job flows. Wal-Mart also has a longer term effect on net employment of a little more than 50 jobs in a total year. This employment finding is quite similar to findings in Hicks and Wilburn [2001] and Basker [2005]. Perhaps most importantly, Wal-Mart entrance is associated with a dramatic decline in retail sector job turnovers (over 40 percent). This result challenges much of the received wisdom of Wal-Mart’s role in the retail sector. The policy implications of these findings echo those of Ken Stone, who cautions against activist policy in support, or against Wal-Mart at the local level. Disclosure: The author of this study owns no stock in Wal-Mart or any related firm (other than that held by the mutual fund companies Vanguard and TIAA-CREF). I have performed no paid consulting services from any retail firm, its developers, local governments or related entities since 2002 (though I continue to field frequent questions on my earlier research). I have received no honoraria related to Wal-Mart research (other than travel costs paid by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond in 2001). In short, except for roughly$1,500 purchases of diapers annual since 1999 I have no financial relationship with Wal-Mart or any affiliate that I am aware of.Wal-Mart, Pennsylvania, Quarterly Workforce Indicators

IWS Issue Brief - The Good, the Bad, and Wal-Mart

Today, the nation’s largest company and number one employer would have Americans believe that its interests are synonymous with the public interest. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., a retailing behemoth with more than 3,700 locations in the U.S., 1.2 million employees, and annual domestic sales of $228 billion stands as consumers’ best friend. With unparalleled purchasing power and marketplace heft, Wal-Mart prides itself on driving down costs all the way through the smallest supplier to ensure the lowest prices on everything from electronics to clothing to house wares to edibles. Wal-Mart also takes credit for stimulating economic development, creating jobs, and filling local coffers with sales and property tax revenues through decisions to locate stores in rural communities, small cities and suburbs, and struggling urban neighborhoods. But there’s a contrary view gaining currency across the land; that is, what’s good for Wal-Mart is bad for America. Skepticism about Wal-Mart ranges from concern about low wages and suspect workplace practices to perceived threats to the ongoing viability of communities’ social and economic infrastructure once the big box store comes to town

Selling a Cheaper Mousetrap: Wal-Marts Effect on Retail Prices

I quantify the price effect of a low-cost entrant on retail prices using a case-study approach. I consider the effect of Wal-Mart entry on average city-level prices of various consumer goods by exploiting variation in the timing of store entry. The analysis combines two unique data sets, one containing opening dates of all US Wal-Mart stores and the other containing average quarterly retail prices of several narrowly-defined commonly-purchased goods over the period 1982-2002. I focus on 10 specific items likely to be sold at Wal-Mart stores and analyze their price dynamics in 165 US cities before and after Wal-Mart entry. An instrumental-variables specification corrects for measurement error in Wal-Mart entry dates. I find robust price effects for several products, including shampoo, toothpaste, and laundry detergent; magnitudes vary by product and specification, but generally range from 1.5-3% in the short run and four times as much in the long-run.Wal-Mart, Competition, Prices, Market Size

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Strategic Corporate Research Report

[Excerpt] Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (hereinafter Wal-Mart) is the second-largest company in the world. It has more annual revenue than the GDP of Switzerland. It sells more DVDs, magazines, books, CDs, dog food, diapers, bicycles, toys, toothpaste, jewelry, and groceries than any other retailer does worldwide. It is the largest retailer in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, the second-largest in the United Kingdom, and the third largest in Brazil, With its partners, it is the largest retailer in Central America. Wal-Mart is also the largest private employer in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and it has 1.8 million employees around the globe. Wal-Mart is so huge that it effectively sets the terms for large swaths of the global economy, from retail wages to apparel prices to transoceanic shipping rates to the location of toy factories. Indeed, if there is one single aspect to understand about the company, it is the fact that Wal-Mart is transforming the relations of production in virtually every product category it sells, through its relationships with suppliers. But its influence goes far beyond the economy. It sets social policy by refusing to sell certain types of birth control. Its construction of supercenters molds the landscape, shapes traffic patterns, and alters the local commercial mix. The retail goliath shapes culture by selling the music of patriotic country singer Garth Brooks but not the critical (and hilarious) The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (the Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction. It influences politics by donating millions to conservative politicians and think tanks. Wal-Mart is, in short, one of the most powerful entities in the world. Not surprisingly, Wal-Mart has developed a long list of critics, including unions, human rights organizations, religious groups, environmental activists, community organizations, small business groups, academics, children’s rights groups, and even institutional investors. These groups have exposed the company’s illegal union-busting tactics, its many violations of overtime laws, its abuse of child labor, its egregious healthcare policies, its super-exploitation of immigrant workers, its rampant gender discrimination, the horrific labor conditions at its suppliers’ factories, and its unlawful environmental degradation. They have also chronicled the deleterious effect Wal-Mart has on the public coffers and the quality of community life. New Wal-Mart stores and distribution centers often swallow up government subsidies and tax breaks, take public land, create more congestion, reduce overall wages, destroy retail variety, and increase public outlays for healthcare. To its critics, Wal-Mart represents the worst aspects of 21st-eentury capitalism. Wal-Mart usually counters any criticism with two words: low prices. It is a powerful mantra in a consumerist world. The company does make more products affordable to more people, and that is nothing to sneeze at when wages are stagnant, jobs insecure, pensions disappearing, and health coverage shrinking. With low prices, Wal-Mart helps working men and women get more from their meager paychecks, more necessities like bread, and more luxuries, like roses, too. It is a brilliant and incontrovertible argument, and Wal-Mart’s most ardent defenders take it even farther. They say its obsession with low prices makes the entire economy more efficient and more productive. Suppliers and competitors have to produce more and better products with the same resources, and that redounds to everyone. In the micro, it means falling prices and rising product quality. In the macro, it means economic growth, more jobs, and higher tax revenues. To its defenders, Wal-Mart represents the best aspects of 21st-century capitalism. Despite their radical opposition, critics and defenders of the world’s largest corporation agree on one thing: Wal-Mart represents 21st-century capitalism. It symbolizes a system of increasing market penetration and decreasing social regulation, where more and more aspects of life around the world are subject to economic competition. Wal-Mart’s success rests upon the ongoing destruction of social power in favor of corporate power. It takes advantage of the conditions of the neo-liberal world, from the availability of instant and inexpensive global communication to the continuing collapse of agricultural employment around the world to the rapid diffusion of technological innovation to the oversupply of subjugated migrant labor in nearly every country to the continued existence of undemocratic and corporate-dominated governments. For some, this is as it should be, all part of capitalism’s natural and ultimately benign development. For the rest of us, Wal-Mart is at the heart of what is wrong with the world