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One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

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Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#11

Post by blakesterz »

The numbers country wide:

According to Pew [0]

  The numbers vary from month to month. But in April 2023, the most recent month with available figures, 41.9 million people in 22.2 million households received SNAP benefits. That translates to 12.5% of the total U.S. population.
Fed says [1]

  84,041,447 individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP in the 51 states and the District of Columbia that reported enrollment data for January 2024.
0 https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/19/what-the-...

1 https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/program-information/medica...

Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#12

Post by jonathankoren »

sandworm101 wrote: post #4

What percentage of non-amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps? We all love to hate Amazon, but such statistics are meaningless without context.

Are you really saying, “But Walmart doesn’t pay a living wage either so it’s okay?”

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/19/walmart-and-mcdonalds-among-...

Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#13

Post by giraffe_lady »

astrange wrote: post #7
brevitea wrote: post #6

... Just like Walmart. It's a shame.

It's not, it's mostly a sign that benefits are working. Giving workers benefits /increases/ their compensation because it increases their negotiating power. This means they're earning more than they otherwise would. Not less. If it was less, that would mean benefits are bad and we should take them away!

It's essentially just a subsidy to large employers? So they can not pay their employees enough? Is this what these programs are intended for? I didn't understand it that way but maybe I'm wrong.

Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#14

Post by iancmceachern »

sandworm101 wrote: post #4

What percentage of non-amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps? We all love to hate Amazon, but such statistics are meaningless without context.

I dont agree.

It's more about the relative income from the warehouse workers to the CEO.

Even if the post office has the exact same percentage of workers on food stamps, I would argue that because the postmaster general makes so much less than Amazon leadership that Amazon has the privilege and ability to do better, and still run a profitable business.

It's about profit, and sharing it more equitably.

Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#15

Post by astrange »

dangus wrote: post #8
sandworm101 wrote: post #4

What percentage of non-amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps? We all love to hate Amazon, but such statistics are meaningless without context.

No one who can hold down a job and is currently employed should need government assistance to survive. Doesn’t matter if it’s Amazon or its competitors.

You need to apply marginal thinking here. They are better off with welfare benefits, which means it's a good thing that they have them. If you gave them more benefits, they would have more negotiating power and be able to become even more employed[0], and then would you complain more?

[0] assuming that's what they want to do

Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#16

Post by WillAdams »

sandworm101 wrote: post #4

What percentage of non-amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps? We all love to hate Amazon, but such statistics are meaningless without context.

~12.6% per:

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/food-stamp-...

>More than 42 million Americans receive a federal stipend for food through the program formerly known as food stamps.

Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#17

Post by decremental »

blakesterz wrote: post #11

The numbers country wide: According to Pew [0] The numbers vary from month to month. But in April 2023, the most recent month with available figures, 41.9 million people in 22.2 million households received SNAP benefits. That translates to 12.5% of the total U.S. population. Fed says [1] 84,041,447 individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP in the 51 states and the District of Columbia that reported enrollment da…

The 51 states huh

Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#18

Post by llsf »

blakesterz wrote: post #11

The numbers country wide: According to Pew [0] The numbers vary from month to month. But in April 2023, the most recent month with available figures, 41.9 million people in 22.2 million households received SNAP benefits. That translates to 12.5% of the total U.S. population. Fed says [1] 84,041,447 individuals were enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP in the 51 states and the District of Columbia that reported enrollment da…

That is the number that a friend working for SNAP told... 1 out 8 Americans is on food stamps.

Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#19

Post by astrange »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #13
astrange wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not, it's mostly a sign that benefits are working. Giving workers benefits /increases/ their compensation because it increases their negotiating power. This means they're earning more than they otherwise would. Not less. If it was less, that would mean benefits are bad and we should take them away!

It's essentially just a subsidy to large employers? So they can not pay their employees enough? Is this what these programs are intended for? I didn't understand it that way but maybe I'm wrong.

If it was a subsidy to large employers it would be paid to the employer. Those are called wage subsidies. (Health insurance in the US works like this, obviously it's not great.)

These are paid to the worker though. That means it's a subsidy against the employer! It makes them worse off, not better.

Re: One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid

#20

Post by WillAdams »

iancmceachern wrote: post #14
sandworm101 wrote: post #4

What percentage of non-amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps? We all love to hate Amazon, but such statistics are meaningless without context.

I dont agree. It's more about the relative income from the warehouse workers to the CEO. Even if the post office has the exact same percentage of workers on food stamps, I would argue that because the postmaster general makes so much less than Amazon leadership that Amazon has the privilege and ability to do better, and still run a profitable business. It's about profit, and sharing it more equitably.

The concept you are looking for is "payslope", and it should be a standard part of such conversations:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/h...

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