Workers at Top US Low-Wage Firms Rely on Public Assistance, Report Finds

A report examining the nation’s 20 largest employers of low-wage workers, dubbed the “Low-Wage 20,” concludes that many of these firms pay wages so low that workers frequently need public assistance to make ends meet. It argues that the companies’ pay practices function like “corporate welfare” by effectively shifting the cost of maintaining workers onto government safety-net programs.

Key findings in the report include that:

15 of the Low-Wage 20 reported 2024 median pay below the income level used to qualify a family of three for Medicaid in most states. 13 of the Low-Wage 20 reported 2024 median pay below the threshold for eligibility for SNAP (food assistance) for a family of three. The report uses state-level disclosure data to estimate national-scale effects. For example, it points to high Medicaid enrollment figures tied to Walmart and Amazon in Nevada and extrapolates those patterns to suggest hundreds of thousands of employees at those firms could be on Medicaid nationally if similar conditions apply elsewhere.

The report also connects low wages to broader “affordability” pressures:

It states that many of these employers’ median pay levels remain far below what the report frames as the income needed to afford major costs (such as average rent). It notes that for the group overall, average median pay fell between 2019 and 2024 after adjusting for inflation.

In addition to worker pay, the report emphasizes executive compensation and company spending:

It reports an average CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio of 899-to-1 across the Low-Wage 20, compared with a much lower average ratio for the S&P 500 overall. It also highlights large-scale stock buybacks across the period reviewed, arguing that money prioritized for buybacks could otherwise be used to raise worker wages.

Overall, the report frames the findings as evidence that major corporations rely on low wages and staffing structures that leave workers without sufficient income, prompting dependence on programs designed to cover poverty-related needs.