Millions of employees are paid by payroll card, as the number of payroll cards have grown with increasing popularity in the past decade. According to the FDIC, payroll cards were used to distribute an estimated $15.9 billion in earned wages in 2007. Wal-Mart, the largest private employer in the U.S., began the move to a “100% paperless payroll” in late 2009 for its 1.4 million employees by automatically loading wages onto a payroll card for employees who do not have or want direct deposit. One industry group has estimated that there will be over 17.5 million payroll cards in circulation in 2010. Another industry group predicts that there will be almost $60 billion loaded onto payroll cards in 2014.
For the complete document, go to: http://www.consumersunion.org/pdf/Payroll_Issue_Paper_2011.pdf (PDF)