CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

These 20 Corporations are Major Culprits in the Affordability Crisis

Photograph Source: Harrison Keely – CC BY 4.0

A recent poll found that nearly half of people in the world’s richest country are having difficulty affording basic necessities like groceries, utility bills, health care, housing, and transportation.

A new Institute for Policy Studies report shines a spotlight on the role leading corporations are playing in this affordability crisis. The report analyzes the 20 largest employers of low-wage U.S. workers, a group we’ve dubbed the “Low-Wage 20.”

Our analysis finds that at half of these firms, median worker pay actually declined in real terms between 2019 and 2024. For the group as a whole, average median pay dropped 4.6 percent to just $29,087.

Not one single company in the Low-Wage 20 had median pay in 2024 that met the $59,600 income level needed to afford the U.S. average rent for a two-bedroom apartment.

At seven Low-Wage 20 firms, annual pay for a typical worker fell below $25,533, the average price of a used car. Without reliable transportation, workers can’t get to their  jobs – not to mention grocery stores and doctors’ offices.

Poverty wages also make it extremely challenging for low-income families to afford to send their kids to college. At 16 of the........

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