Much of the debate over affordability focuses on rising costs. A new report, however, highlights low worker wages as a key factor.

While companies such as Amazon and Walmart are enriching their CEOs and shareholders, frontline workers are struggling.

Report author Sarah Anderson, global economy director at the Institute for Policy Studies, said many workers get paychecks so small they have to enroll in programs such as SNAP and Medicaid to get by. She said this low-wage business model amounts to corporate welfare paid for by U.S. taxpayers.

“Twenty of the largest and most profitable corporations in this country are not paying their workers enough to meet basic necessities,” she said, “and many of them are having to rely on public assistance just to get by.”

All companies listed in the new report, “America’s 20 Largest Low-Wage Employers and the Affordability Crisis,” failed to pay workers enough to afford the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment. A year’s wages at seven companies on the list isn’t enough to pay the average price of a used car. Meanwhile, the average CEO’s pay topped $18 million.

These corporations are not keeping wages low because of tight profit margins. Between 2019 and 2024, companies spent a combined $260 billion buying back their own stock. Anderson said buybacks can temporarily increase stock prices, benefiting executives and shareholders, but they do nothing for workers’ paychecks. In 2024 alone, the companies spent $32.5 billion on buybacks.

“If these companies had taken the money that they put into stock buybacks and put it into worker pay,” she said, “they could have lifted a million workers up to the level that you would need to be able to afford a two-bedroom apartment.”

Anderson said lawmakers should consider using available tools to help workers. For example, they can raise the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009, strengthen workers’ rights to unionize, and hold companies accountable for unfair labor practices, she said.

“Companies have used aggressive tactics to discourage unionization, preventing workers from bargaining collectively for fair pay,” she added.

‍