Daily Archives: March 10, 2005


Job Choices

Walmart is regularly bashed because of their compensation plan. They may be deserving but there are some who are worse. For example, the state of Maryland:

BALTIMORE – Audra White loves her job caring for a 55-year-old man and a 51-year-old woman who need help with everyday tasks, but her paychecks from the state of Maryland leave her living below the poverty line.
Audra White”I bathe them, wash their clothes, run errands, talk to them. It’s like a second family. You bond with them,” said White, 39, a contract worker for the state in a program that provides Medicaid patients with in-home care. As a personal care assistant, she cleans and cooks and will even arrange cans in the cupboard so all labels are facing front if that’s what a client wants.
The state of Maryland pays her a maximum of $40 a day for eight hours’ work. One of 3,000 personal care assistants who work as contractors for the state, she averages less than the $5.15-an-hour federal minimum wage. The workers haven’t had a raise in 19 years. White also has no health insurance, workers’ compensation, sick leave, paid vacations or unemployment insurance.

The article suggests that there may be an $80/month raise in the works for these personal care assistants. Yep, 50 cents/hour. Not much.
It is, though, puzzling why the 3000 people who have these jobs don’t move on to better paying positions elsewhere. Isn’t that what people do when they believe they are undercompensated and they aren’t getting relief from their current employer?