Record Profits Amid Low Wages

Quote of the Day, July 19, 2012

“Large corporations employ the biggest share of low-wage workers in the U.S., but while those businesses have emerged from the recession with strong profits, their lowest-paid workers are still struggling to make ends meet.  It’s deeply worrisome that the very businesses that can most afford to pay fair wages and boost consumer demand are also driving the stagnant wage growth that is holding the economy back.

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“Contrary to misconceptions, most low-wage workers are not employed by small business.  Instead, they work for businesses with more than 100 employees, often for major national chains. Moreover, 70 percent or more of the nation’s largest low-wage employers have recovered from the recession and are enjoying high corporate profits. Paying slightly higher wages will do them no harm, but will have a direct benefit for the economy because low-wage earners would immediately spend those wages on basic needs for their families.”

– Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project (NELP), as excerpted in NELP’s new report, Profits Soar for Largest Low-Wage Employers, while Paychecks Shrink