The Commercial Appeal reports that Electrolux has hired its first 374 employees.
Here’s the tale of the tape:
$188 million — Local and state subsidies and tax freezes for new Memphis plant
$1.2 billion – North America sales for Electrolux
$30,472 – Average wage of first 374 employees
$35,667 – Living wage (2010) for one adult and two children in Memphis
moral:
don’t have children.
If there is a moral it is to quit subsidizing corporate wealth and start looking out for our neighbors.
The 374 employees will have an annual gross salary of $11,396,528; and after taxes are taken out of pay check, they will likely spend the remainder on personal consumption with no savings, unless Electrolux has a pension plan of some sort. Then the question becomes: What jurisdiction will benefit from the consumption spending? If the employees live outside of Shelby County, much of the benefit is likely to go somewhere besides Memphis. However, maybe it doesn’t matter the locus of the benefits as long as they are somewhere in the 8-county Memphis Metropolitan Area where the living wage is less than in Memphis.
Interesting point, Finegold, especially since it’s the counties on this side of the state line that put up the subsidies and waived the taxes.