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Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s compensation policies cost California taxpayers $86 million annually to provide health care and other public assistance to the retailer's underpaid workers, according to an analysis released Monday. The study estimated Wal-Mart employs roughly 44,000 California workers who make an average of $9.70 per hour 31 percent below the $14.01 per-hour average of other large retailers with at least 1,000 employees. The study calculated Wal-Mart's wages using UC Berkeley's study is based on the premise that Wal-Mart's paltry pay scale forces the retailer's workers to supplement their incomes with Medicaid, food stamps and other taxpayer-backed assistance programs at an unusually high rate. California taxpayers contribute an average of $1,952 per Wal-Mart worker 39 percent more than the average public assistance cost of $1,401 per worker at other large retailers with at least 1,000 employees, the study concluded. "People understand the benefits of Wal-Mart they have lower prices," said Arindrajit Dube, a research economist who co-authored the study. "What might not be obvious is those low prices are fed by taxpayer-funded compensation." [more]