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Falling Wages and Benefits Hit Home for the Holidays

The best present New York City's retail workers could get this holiday season is a card – a union membership card, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank.

"Unionization and Poverty: The Case of New York City Retail Workers" analyzes the 10-year decline in wages and benefits paid to New York's retail workers and reviews the failure of existing public policies to address these declines. It concludes that the surest way for retail workers to improve their lives is by joining a union and the most effective public policy to help them get there would be policies that protect their right to organize.

According to Moshe Adler, the New York-based economist who authored the report, many retail workers are paid so little that they receive some kind of public assistance, whether it's Medicaid, rent subsidies, foods stamps, or school breakfast and lunch for their children. Nearly three quarters of the retail workers who receive benefits from these public safety net programs work full time.

'It's ironic that New York is widely seen as a great place to shop, but is a terrible place to work in one," said Adler. "That person who helps you purchase just the right gift for your loved one this season is likely to need help from Medicaid and food stamps to keep her own family healthy and fed."

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Full Report (pdf)