Are you a Walmart worker?

Are you a Walmart worker?

The Walmart 1 Percent: The Facts on Florida

 

The Walmart 1 Percent in Florida

MEMBERS OF THE WALMART 1% IN FLORIDA:

AFFILIATIONS OF THE WALMART 1%:

  • Walmart Board of Directors member Jim Cash is on the Executive Committee of AP Capital Partners: 6000 Metrowest Blvd., Suite 208, Orlando, FL 32835; 407-472-1892

 

 

The Walmart 1 Percent’s Influence in Florida Politics

The Walton family in politics

The Waltons have spent over $400,000 on Florida politics, with almost all of it going to Republicans.

The Waltons’ political contributions in Florida overwhelmingly favored Republicans from 1990-2010:

 

Democrats Independent Republicans
House $21,200
Senate $2,000
State-level $521 $381,000
Florida TOTAL $521 $2,000 $402,200

Source: Analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Politics and the National Institute on Money in State Politics

Similarly, 71% of the Walmart PAC’s $392,350 in contributions to candidates from Florida in federal races went to Republicans between 1990 and 2010.

Walmart in politics

Walmart has shelled out at the state level in Florida politics. Between 2003 and 2010, the company spent over a million dollars in state elections. Seventy-eight percent of it went to Republicans.[1]

 

 

Walmart’s Impact on Florida’s Employment Picture

Impact of Walmart stores on retail and other jobs

Based on data available through Walmart’s website, there were 93,621 Walmart associates in Florida as of January 31, 2012.

According to a 2006 study, for every retail job created at Walmart, communities lose 1.4 retail jobs.[2] Based on the findings of this study, we estimate that, if Walmart had no stores in Florida, there would be an additional 37,448 retail jobs in the state.

Impact of Walmart’s China sourcing on jobs

Based on an estimate of Walmart’s share of the U.S.-China trade deficit, we can estimate that Florida lost an estimated 9,449 jobs as a result of Walmart’s practice of sourcing heavily from China.[3]

 

 

Walmart’s Cost to Florida Taxpayers

Taxpayer subsidies for Walmart

Walmart is the world’s biggest company.[4] But despite its colossal financial resources—the company brought in $444 billion in revenue last year[5]—it’s habitually dipped into public coffers to finance its expansion into almost every corner of the United States.[6] In the absence of centralized information or databases on economic subsidies, Good Jobs First, an economic policy and research non-profit, has done extensive research to document the subsidies Walmart has received, and has published the data on Walmart Subsidy Watch. Here’s what GJF uncovered in Florida.

Taxpayer healthcare costs

Tens of thousands of Walmart associates and their families qualify for Medicaid and other publicly subsidized care. Indeed, according to data compiled by Good Jobs First, in 22 of 24 states which have disclosed information, Walmart has the largest number of employees or dependents on the public rolls of any employer.[7]

In Florida: Walmart was the Florida employer with the most workers (and their dependents) participating in Medicaid, according to data published by the St. Petersburg Times in March 2005. Over 12,000 Walmart associates and their dependents were enrolled in Medicaid.[8]

 

 

More Walmart stores coming to Florida

Here’s a list of Walmart stores planned or rumored to be opening in Florida:[9]

  • Alachua: Supercenter, U.S. 441 near I-75
  • Gainesville: Supercenter, 800 block of NW 34th St.
  • Gulf Breeze: Neighborhood Market, West Vine
  • Miami: Supercenter, North Miami Ave.
  • Panama City Beach: Supercenter, Back Beach Rd.
  • Riverview: Neighborhood Market, 10863 Bloomingdale Ave.
  • St. Petersburg: Supercenter, U.S. 19 and Roosevelt
  • Sarasota: Neighborhood Market, corner of Myrtle and N. Tamiami
  • Tampa: Neighborhood Market, North Dale Mabry and Floyd Rds.
 

[2] The Effects of Wal-Mart on Local Labor Markets. December, 2006. David Neumark, Junfu Zhang, Stephen Ciccarella.

[3] These numbers are estimates. To arrive at these estimates, we used the report by the Economic Policy Institute that estimated U.S. jobs lost to China by state from 2001-2008.  We then multiplied that number by 9.3%, which is the proportion of the overall U.S.-China trade deficit that EPI estimated to be tied to Walmart. We arrived at that number from this study.

[4] As measured by revenue; “Fortune Global 500 2011: The World’s Biggest Companies – Wal-Mart Stores,” http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2011/snapshots/2255.html

[5] “Walmart reports Q4 EPS from continuing operations of $1.51; Walmart U.S. delivers positive traffic and positive comp sales in Q4,” press release dated February 21, 2012, http://investors.walmartstores.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=112761&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1663026&highlight=

[6] “Shopping for Subsidies: How Wal-Mart Uses Taxpayer Money to Finance Its Never-Ending Growth,” by Philip Mattera and Anna Purinton, Good Jobs First, May 2004.  http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/sites/default/files/docs/pdf/wmtstudy.pdf

[7] “Disclosures of Employers Whose Workers and Their Dependents are Using State Health Insurance Programs,” Good Jobs First report, version dated January 18, 2012.  http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/corporate-subsidy-watch/hidden-taxpayer-costs.

[8] “Disclosures of Employers Whose Workers and Their Dependents are Using State Health Insurance Programs,” Good Jobs First report, version dated January 18, 2012.  http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/corporate-subsidy-watch/hidden-taxpayer-costs.

[9] Information on planned or rumored stores collected by Making Change at Walmart.