A Hypothetical Scenario
A new retail outlet is opening in a certain town. It will do business seven days a week from 8:00am til 10:00 pm (14 hours). There need to be 4 hourly employees present in order to run the business. When the business opens it will be managed by an experienced team already employed by the company. All needed jobs can be done without specialized skills, (though experience in retail and this industry will improve performance). At all times there must be at least one employee 21 or over on duty.
The company has put out job offers in town, which has a high rate of unemployment. They have received 1000s of applications from a diverse cross section of people. For purposes of this scenario, you may assume that there are applications from every demographic likely to apply for a retail position in sufficient numbers to cover whatever hiring plan you come up with.
The median wage in this town is $33,750 a year. An independent university study lists a living wage for a family of four as $36,500.
The question you need to answer: From a social justice perspective how many people should be hired? (you need to cover 392 person-hours per week) and what shifts should they work? What is the hourly wage?
How many people from each of the following groups is ideal:
- High school students,
- college students (assume a public 4 year university and 2 year community college are near by),
- convicted felons now released from prison (you may break this down by * violent, property, and substance crime if you wish)
- Military veterans
- People unemployed for at least 12 months
- Head of house hold (a.k.a. Single parent)
- Retirees wanting to supplement social security income
For how many of your employees will this job be:
- their only source of family income
- their primary source of family income
- a secondary source of family income
What is the ideal race and gender distribution? What actions would be justified on the employers part to ensure this distribution?
Most importantly, how does your proposed distribution exemplify social justice?