By Julie Jargon
Starbucks Corp. is teaming up with more than a dozen companies
in a commitment to increase hiring of young, minority workers over
the next three years.
The companies--which also include Alaska Air Group Inc., CVS
Health Corp., Lyft Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Wal-Mart Stores
Inc.--have pledged to hire 100,000 mostly low-income,
16-to-24-year-olds as apprentices, interns and part- and full-time
employees by 2018.
The coalition was initiated by Starbucks Chief Executive Howard
Schultz, who in March vowed to hire at least 10,000 young,
low-income people in the U.S. over the next three years. He said
that while some of the new hires will replace employees who leave
the company, the majority will be new, entry-level jobs in
Starbucks cafes. Starbucks currently employs more than 150,000
workers in the U.S., where it operates more than 12,000 retail
stores.
The other companies also are largely creating new hourly-wage
jobs focused mostly on young African-Americans and Latinos. "We're
not displacing jobs, but creating incremental opportunities in most
of these companies," Mr. Schultz said in an interview.
The hiring effort, dubbed the "100,000 opportunities
initiative," will kick off with a job fair in Chicago on Aug. 13,
which the companies expect to result in at least 1,000 hires in the
Chicago area over the next 18 months. Mr. Schultz said the
coalition plans to hold more job fairs in other cities and that it
hopes more companies will join the effort.
Mr. Schultz has frequently involved Starbucks in social
issues--sometimes triggering controversy, as with "Race Together"
initiative early this year to prompt people to discuss race
relations while buying their morning coffee.
Job creation has been a central cause. Mr. Schultz in 2011
teamed Starbucks up with community financial institutions for a
program called "Create Jobs for USA," in which donations from
Starbucks customers, employees and others were pooled to fund
community business lending. In 2013, Starbucks committed to hiring
at least 10,000 military veterans and their spouses by 2018.
As part of the latest hiring effort, a family foundation started
by Mr. Schultz and his wife is contributing $30 million toward
local job training and mentorship programs.
"It's very personal for me, having grown up in public housing
and understanding what it was like to be that poor kid," Mr.
Schultz said.
Other companies involved with the new hiring initiative include
Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., Cintas Corp., HMSHost Corp., J.P.
Morgan Chase & Co., J.C. Penney Corp., Macy's Inc., Porch.com,
Potbelly Corp., Yum Brands Inc.'s Taco Bell, Target Corp., and
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.
Write to Julie Jargon at julie.jargon@wsj.com
Access Investor Kit for Alaska Air Group, Inc.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US0116591092
Access Investor Kit for CVS Caremark Corp.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US1266501006
Access Investor Kit for Starbucks Corp.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US8552441094
Access Investor Kit for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US9311421039
Access Investor Kit for Yum! Brands, Inc.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US9884981013
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires