New U.C.
Berkeley Study [ABC 7 (Calif.)]
Wal-Mart
is getting new attention for its business practices. This time, it’s a study
from UC Berkeley’s Labor Research Center. It suggests that Wal-Mart could pay
its people more, and still provide customers with low prices. Wal-Mart is the
country’s largest retailer with arguably some of the lowest prices.

Study: Big
Box Living Wage Ordinances Benefit Workers Without Hurting Shoppers
[Alternet]
The labor center study, “Living Wage Policies and Wal- Mart:
How a Higher Wage Standard Would Impact Wal-Mart Workers and Shoppers,”
concludes that if Wal-Mart hiked its minimum wage to $10 per hour and in the
extreme case, passed on costs fully to consumers, the average impact on a
Wal-Mart shopper would be higher product prices of 0.9 percent.

“Big Box
Living Wage Ordinance” would benefit low-wage Wal-Mart workers, minimally impact
shoppers, says new study [U.C. Berkeley Press Release]
Wal-Mart
could increase its minimum wage to $10 per hour and greatly boost the well-being
of its low-income workers with little financial impact on most shoppers, says a
study released today by the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for
Labor Research and Education.