The Walton family, owners of grocery store chain Walmart, were worth an estimated $260 billion in 2023, making them the second wealthiest family on the planet.
They are the United States’ largest private employer and the retailer remains hugely popular with consumers for their low prices, but they were also known for offering low salaries to workers.
Over the years there have been countless campaigns and protests about their typical wages, and a number of major strikes in the past decade. In response to the backlash, the company claims to have boosted workers’ salaries significantly in recent years.
What are the average wages for Walmart workers?
The company now proudly cites its average hourly rate of $17.50 per hour for frontline associates, which is more than twice the federal minimum wage. But that figure only gives the average amount that workers receive, meaning that many will earn less than this amount.
Jobs listing site Indeed has outlined typical salaries for some of the most common roles within Walmart.
Retail
Cashier - $15.24 per hour
Retail Sales Associate - $16.13 per hour
Replenishment Associate - $16.71 per hour
Loading and Stocking
Warehouse Worker - $21.48 per hour
Warehouse Associate - $19.47 per hour
Seasonal Warehouse Associate - $23.46 per hour
Again, these figures are just the averages, and Indeed states that hourly pay rates go as low as $10 per hour for Back of House workers.
Calls for Walmart salary boosts
Author Rick Wartzman tracked the plight of Walmart workers over the years, sharing accounts of some employees who were unable to cover essentials like rent and groceries with their wages. He found that some were forced to use government programs like food stamps and Medicaid to survive on their Walmart salary, essentially shifting some of the company’s business costs onto the taxpayer.
More recently he was given access by Walmart to record how the company had implemented changes to benefit workers. Between 2015 and 2021 Walmart invested at least $5 billion in pay increases, benefits boosts and training and education.
Although the retail giant has taken many steps to improve the plight of their workers, Wartzman was unsatisfied by the progress made, and titled his book ‘Still Broke’.
“I think the company is still broke after all the change that it has made on this front,” he told CBS News last year. “It hasn’t fixed things yet.”
Even the latest headline figure of $17.50 per hour, which the company uses to demonstrate its generosity, works out at less than $36,400 per year when workers’ typical schedules are calculated. With inflation running so high throughout the past couple of years, Wartzman argues that the company, much like other big corporations, is out of touch with workers’ needs.
“What this has shown me … just by looking at Walmart, is that Corporate America overall will never go far enough, fast enough on its own,” he said.
