> Considering that McDonalds and Walmart are #1 and #2 employers in America (after the federal government), this isn't surprising.
Indeed. This article says nothing about the total number of employees McD's and Walmart have. It's committing the same error as heat maps that aren't adjusted for population (See https://xkcd.com/1138/)
> This relies on a mistaken theory on how wages get set. No one gets paid based on what they need. If that were true, lottery winners would continue to work for free.
IMO, every for-profit corporation bases pay on one thing: How easy you are to replace.
Unless you work a job that pays commission, you are not paid based on the value and profit generated by your work. Software engineers don't have high salaries because their work is profitable, they have high salaries because finding good SEs is difficult.
> If federal benefits to their employees were cut, the employees wouldn't have any more bargaining power to demand higher wages.
Workers that are easily replaced will always have zero bargaining power. Unionizing may help, but they still won't have much.
> On the contrary, they'd probably be inclined to work longer or take on additional work to make up for the loss in benefits, pushing wages further on.
More likely, they'd be looking for a second job. But that's hard, since a lot of retail and fast food jobs try to keep people under 30 hours/week so they don't have to pay benefits, while also expecting full-time availability, with a schedule that changes every week.
> You saw exactly that relationship when unemployment benefits were extended during the pandemic and many people chose not to work because it would cut off their benefits or they had enough in benefits to not work for the time being.
And some are quitting because they're tired of being treated like garbage.
https://pdx.eater.com/2021/9/1/22652642/portland-restaurant-...