Walmart salaries for 2023: How much do employees get paid?

The Walton family, owners of grocery store chain Walmart, were worth an estimated $224.5 billion in 2022, making them by far the wealthiest family on the planet.

They are the United States’ largest private employer and Walmart remains hugely popular with consumers for their low prices, but they have also become known for offering low salaries to workers.

Over the years there have been countless campaigns and protests about their typical wages, and a number of major strikes in the past decade. In response to the backlash, the company claims to have boosted workers’ salaries significantly in recent years.

What are the average wages for Walmart workers?

The company now proudly cites its average hourly of $17 per hour, which has risen substantially in recent years. But that figure only gives the average amount that workers receive, meaning that many will earn far less.

Jobs listing site Indeed has outlined typical salaries for some of the most common roles within Walmart.

Retail

Cashier - $14.02 per hour

Retail Sales Associate - $15.65 per hour

Replenishment Associate - $17.03 per hour

Loading and Stocking

Warehouse Worker - $21.01 per hour

Warehouse Associate - $20.16 per hour

Seasonal Warehouse Associate - $24.55 per hour

Again, these figures are just the averages, and Indeed states that hourly pay rates go as low as $10.49 per hour for Back of House workers.

Renewed calls for Walmart salary boosts

Author Rick Wartzman has tracked the plight of Walmart workers over the years, sharing accounts of some employees who were unable to cover essentials like rent and groceries with their wages. He found that some were forced to use government programs like food stamps and Medicaid to survive on their Walmart salary, essentially shifting some of the company’s business costs onto the taxpayer.

More recently he was given access by Walmart to record how the company had implemented changes to benefit workers. Between 2015 and 2021 Walmart invested at least $5 billion in pay rises, benefits boosts and training and education.

However Wartzman was unimpressed by the progress made, and titled his new book ‘Still Broke’.

“I think the company is still broke after all the change that it has made on this front,” he told CBS News. “It hasn’t fixed things yet.”

Even the headline figure of $17 per hour, which the company uses to demonstrate its generosity, works out at less than $29,000 per year when workers’ typical schedules are calculated. With inflation running so high throughout 2022 and into the New Year, Wartzman argues that the company is out of touch with workers’ needs.

“What this has shown me … just by looking at Walmart, is that Corporate America overall will never go far enough, fast enough on its own,” he said.