The Walmart 1 Percent in North Carolina
MEMBERS OF THE WALMART 1% IN NORTH CAROLINA:
- Walmart Board of Directors member Steve Reinemundlives in Winston-Salem. Contact Steve Reinemund:
- Wake Forest University Schools of Business, 2116 Worrell Professional Center, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27106. steve@wfu.edu
- Walmart email address: stevensreinemund@wal-mart.com
The Walmart 1 Percent’s Influence in North Carolina Politics
The Walton family in politics
The Waltons contributed $28,000 to candidates for Congress from North Carolina between the 1990 election cycle and 2010, all of it to Republicans running for Senate. They also gave another $500 in state-level races over the same time period, also to Republicans.[1]
Walmart in politics
The Walmart PAC spent $254,750 on Congressional candidates from the state over the same time period, with three-fifths going to Republican candidates. At the state level, Walmart spent $136,000 on North Carolina politics between 2003 and 2010.[2]
Walmart’s Impact on North Carolina’s Employment Picture
Impact of Walmart stores on retail and other jobs
Based on data available through Walmart’s website, there were 51,785 Walmart associates in North Carolina as of January 31, 2012.
According to a 2006 study, for every retail job created at Walmart, communities lose 1.4 retail jobs.[3] Based on the findings of this study, we estimate that, if Walmart had no stores in North Carolina, there would be an additional 20,714 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 North Carolina lost an estimated 8,844 jobs as a result of Walmart’s practice of sourcing heavily from China.[4]
Walmart’s Cost to North Carolina Taxpayers
Taxpayer subsidies for Walmart
Walmart is the world’s biggest company.[5] But despite its colossal financial resources—the company brought in $444 billion in revenue last year[6]—it’s habitually dipped into public coffers to finance its expansion into almost every corner of the United States.[7] 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 North Carolina.
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.[8] North Carolina has not disclosed data.
More Walmart stores coming to North Carolina
We currently don’t know of any Walmart stores planned or rumored to be opening in North Carolina. Got any to add? Let us know!
[1] Analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Politics and the National Institute on Money in State Politics
[2] Analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Politics and the National Institute on Money in State Politics
[3] The Effects of Wal-Mart on Local Labor Markets. December, 2006. David Neumark, Junfu Zhang, Stephen Ciccarella.
[4] 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.
[5] 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
[6] “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=
[7] “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
[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.