Last fall, a Sun Journal analysis found that 4,430 employees at the state’s 50 largest companies collected some type of welfare in the month of October.
They earned so little that they qualified for – and received – help, such as food stamps, MaineCare, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families or some combination of all three.
Dependence on state welfare ranged from a high of one in five workers at C.N. Brown to none at Fairchild Semiconductor. Hannaford Bros., Maine’s largest employer with 7,500 workers, had 662 in the tally.
Wal-Mart, the state’s third-biggest with 6,500 workers, had 1,001 in the tally – the most of any of those top 50.
Economists suggested many of those workers had jobs in retail with low-skill requirements and low wages and, likely, part-time hours.
Employment figures came from the Department of Labor. Welfare figures came from the Department of Health and Human Services.
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