WHEREAS: Dollar Tree Inc. employs more than 210,500 associates[1] and reports median pay as $13,490, which is below the 2022 $13,590 Federal Poverty level for a single person.[2] While the Company’s workforce is 67.8% female and 55.2% minority, these groups make up only 24.8% and 18.4% of officer and director level management positions.[3]

Many retailers have raised their minimum wage well above legal minimums, but Dollar Tree has not.[4], [5]

In a recent JUST Capital poll, 87% of Americans say large U.S. companies have a responsibility to regularly increase wages to keep up with the rapidly rising cost of living.[6]

Increasing wages for those earning the least is fundamental to ensuring an equitable economy that leaves no one behind while promoting shared prosperity, and helps to close gender and racial pay gaps.[7]

More than half the U.S. population is not earning a living wage.[8] According to MIT, the national average living wage is $17.46 per hour – or $36,311 annually.[9] The current federal minimum wage is just $7.25 and applies in 20 states.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that income inequality has risen between 1979 and 2019, even after accounting for transfers and taxes.[10]

Income inequality harms the entire economy:

Income inequality slows U.S. economic growth by reducing demand by 2 to 4 percent.[11]
A 1% increase in inequality leads to a 1.1% per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) loss.[12]
Gender and racial pay gaps created $2.6 trillion in U.S. GDP losses in 2019.[13]
Eliminating racial pay disparity would add $5 trillion to the U.S. economy over the next five years.[14]
GDP drag reduces returns on diversified portfolios[15] and creates social costs that threaten financial markets. For example, inequality increases health costs and decreases the value of human capital.[16] By paying less than a living wage, Dollar Tree increases its margins and improves financial performance. But gains in Company profit that come at the expense of society and the economy is a bad trade for most Company shareholders, who are diversified and rely on broad economic growth to achieve their financial objectives. The costs and risks created by inequality will reduce long-term diversified portfolio returns.

Dollar Tree lists increasing minimum wage laws as a risk to its business strategy[17] but fails to disclose the cost its compensation practices impose on the broader economy and diversified portfolios.