Nothing Adds Up: Unequal Payment for Small Business Retail Workers in Atlanta
When I got my first paycheck from my part-time retail job, I felt like a millionaire. Triple. Digits. Low triple, but triple nonetheless. I didn’t care about my sore feet from standing at my shift all day with company approved shoes, or my boss who always had something negative to say about my too colorful clothing — it was worth it. I got my first real paycheck. Long hours and copious amounts of caffeine, began to pay off. At least before taxes got taken out.
“Now you can buy some of our stuff so you can properly represent us,” my boss told me. But I knew without looking at the price tags surrounding me, I couldn’t afford it. I needed the money to pay for my groceries.
In Atlanta, the cost of everything is increasing, from gas and groceries to utilities and coffees. But minimum wage remains the same. But, lawmakers are working on a bill to increase Georgia’s minimum wage, though nothing has come into fruition yet.
When inflation increased the average prices in metro Atlanta by 11.7% in 2022, the prices in our small business boutique increased as well. Returning customers who’d previously bought the same shirt but in a different color a week before, complained about the 10% to 20% increase in price. We, as sales people, had to blame the entire economy, and convince these women that they were missing out if they don’t buy the new $300 embroidered peasant top. That’s now been marked up 15%.
However, my paycheck remained below the minimum wage. Worse yet, Georgia has one of the lowest minimum wages at $5.15 per hour with the federal minimum wage at $7.25 per hour — a price that hasn’t changed since 2009, despite rapid inflation.
As a college student, I was taught to be happy for the “experience” and extra change. But between the four sales associates, I was the only college student. All my other coworkers relied on their income to support their families. And our hourly wages only differed by $1. My coworker, Anna Scarbrough, worked at this boutique for 11 years, and quit in November 2022 due to severe underpayment. She couldn’t afford to pay her rent. And she was working two other jobs without a single day off work.
This story isn’t an isolated case. The majority of retail workers work two or more jobs. Another retail employee, Meredith Nacke, was a valued member of her boutique as a sales associate for four years. She also received minimum wage and worked as a restaurant hostess and babysitter to make rent on her studio apartment. After handing in her two weeks, she went and worked for a corporate company with better benefits and higher pay.
But corporate companies have a bit more room to financially provide for their workers. Kroger, has recently increased their wages to $14.50 per hour, which is a great step. But small businesses, like the boutique I worked at, have less financial backing to do the same. Atlanta might have one of the highest retail employment rates, it’s one of the lowest in payment. Consider that with Atlanta’s record high inflation rate, and to put it simply, something is not adding up.
