Walmart Targets Low-Income Students for Job Trainings

When you were in high school, what career did you look forward to having in the future? Teacher? Scientist? NFL quarterback? Whatever you aspired to become, chances are it wasn't a Walmart employee. But that's the future that students across the city of Detroit are currently being trained for.

With an unemployment rate of almost 50 percent, Detroit's work opportunities are practically nill, leading four inner-city schools to partner with Walmart to offer a course in job-readiness. Student participants earn school credit while learning how to hold down one of the superstore's infamously low-paying positions. When the bell rings at 3:30, off the students go to their new entry-level jobs, where they work for minimal pay.

Normally, I'm a huge fan of in-school vocational training, since high schools obviously aren't doing enough to properly prepare their students for employment in the "real world." Especially during times of sky-high unemployment, when teenage unemployment is especially troubling, it's essential for graduating high schoolers to have some useful skills under their belts.

But when Walmart decides to offer 11-week training to low-income high school students, my initial reaction is one of concern. What sort of work conditions are these Detroit students being prepared for? Walmart is notorious for its low wages, discriminatory treatment of female employees, mass lay-offs and refusal to acknowledge, much less support, employee unions. I doubt Detroit parents would want these values instilled in their children. The question remains, then, why four schools have moved forward with the Walmart partnership.

The answer boils down to money. WDIV Detroit reports that the city's public school district is struggling to make ends meet after being hit disproportionately hard by the recession. "We are still under water ... deep red water," said Robert Bobb, the district's emergency financial manager. Bobb ordered 29 schools to close this past fall and about 40 more are expected to shut their doors in the coming year. In this financial climate, the district appears to be taking whatever help it can get, even if financial need -- not educational integrity -- is driving the decision.

At the end of the day, Walmart is the true winner in this partnership. According to the Department of Labor, "Employees under 20 years of age may be paid $4.25 per hour during their first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment with an employer." From my calculations, 11 weeks of training amounts to just under 90 days of employment. Looks like whichever Walmart executive made the decision to partner with Detroit schools was just living by the corporation's own slogan: "Save money. Live better."

Photo credit: hoyasmeg