, Columnist
Wal-Mart's Wage Experiment Works ... for Workers
So far, higher pay is hurting the retailer's profits. Something's gonna give.
Of course she likes more money.
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Over the past few years, I have had a brisk, if intermittent, correspondence with a professor of my acquaintance. Our subject: Wal-Mart. Specifically, wages at Wal-Mart, and whether (and then why) they could go up.
One of those conversations was already turned into a column, and this morning, he e-mailed me to ask what I thought about Neil Irwin’s latest piece in the New York Times on the outcomes of the company’s fairly recent foray into higher average wages. Irwin’s conclusion: Paying higher wages has allowed Wal-Mart to attract better workers, resulting in cleaner, nicer stores. My conclusion: All is proceeding as I have foreseen.