Wal-Mart, a drain on U.S. taxpayers, to up pay for some to $9 an hour

Wal-Mart says it will increase its pay to a half-million of its 1.2 million workers to $9 an hour by April. That’s up from the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour that Wal-Mart is paying most associates. 

Only 6,000 Wal-Mart employees make federal minimum wage. 

American taxpayers pay an average of $3,000 a year for each Wal-Mart employee on public assistance.

Wal-Mart's gross revenue is $475 billion, its profits $17.2 billion.

Wal-Mart employees who get $7.25 an hour for 20 hours, which keeps them from getting company benefits like health insurance, make $145 a week or $7,540 a year.

The poverty level this year in America is $23,850 so even full-time Wal-Mart employees qualify for public assistance.