According to a report by the National Employment Law Project, most low-wage workers are employed by large corporations that have been enjoying healthy profits. Three-quarters of these employers (the 50 biggest employers of low-wage workers) are raking in higher revenues now than they did before the recession.
McDonald's -- bellwether for the fast-food industry -- posted strong results during the recession by attracting cash-strapped customers, and its sales have continued to rise. McDonald's CEO, Don Thompson, was awarded a big-whopper of a compensation package last year, valued at $13.8 million.
Yum! Brands, which operates and licenses Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut, has also done wonderfully well. Its CEO, David Novak, received $11.3 million in compensation last year. The company enjoyed a 13 percent gain in annual earnings -- its eleventh straight year of double-digit growth. Shareholders got a return of 15 percent.
Walmart -- the nation's largest employer -- also continues to grow despite a sluggish economy, and pays its executives handsomely. The total compensation of Walmart's CEO, Michael Duke, was $20.7 millio n last year, up from $18.1 million in 2011. Total sales rose 5 percent to $466.1 billion. Earnings per share rose 10.6 percent.
It would not be a tragedy if some of these shareholder returns and compensation packages had to be trimmed in order that low-wage workers at McDonald's, KFC, and Walmart got a raise.
Indeed, if this nation is to reverse the scourge of widening inequality, such a trimming is necessary.
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