Wal-Mart Touts Plan to Create U.S. Jobs, in Nod to Trump--update
January 17 2017 - 1:36PM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah Nassauer
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it plans to create about 10,000 U.S.
jobs this year, a sign that even the country's largest private
employer feels the need to tout American job growth ahead of
President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.
The jobs will come from previously planned store openings, store
expansions and new e-commerce services, the company said Tuesday.
The retailer said 24,000 additional construction jobs will be
supported by those efforts.
"With a presence in thousands of communities and a vast supplier
network, we know we play an important role in supporting and
creating American jobs," Dan Bartlett, Wal-Mart executive vice
president of corporate affairs, said in a press release.
The announcement is the latest in a string of public displays
from companies looking to head off criticism from the Trump
administration about U.S. job losses. Last week Amazon.com Inc.
promised to create 100,000 full-time jobs in the U.S. in the next
18 months mostly through expansion plans already in the works.
In the wake of tweets from Mr. Trump, some companies such as
Carrier Corp. and Ford Motor Co. reversed plans to shift some
manufacturing abroad. Others highlighted U.S. job growth efforts
under way before November. General Motors Co. this week is expected
to announce plans to invest at least $1 billion across several U.S.
factories, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Wal-Mart is the largest importer in the U.S. by shipping
container volume, long putting the company in the crosshairs of
critics of manufacturing overseas. Its earnings could take a hit
under a Republican proposal to impose a so-called border-adjusted
tax that could drive up the costs of imported goods.
Wal-Mart's announcement got the attention of Mr. Trump. In a
tweet Tuesday afternoon, the president-elect thanked the company
and General Motors "for starting the big jobs push back into the
U.S.!"
With 1.5 million U.S. employees, Wal-Mart dwarfs other
employers. But as the company invests more in e-commerce and
improving existing stores, the retailer has pulled back on opening
new stores, historically the main driver of both sales and employee
growth at the company.
The Bentonville, Ark., company also has been cutting staff and
restructuring its operations. It plans to eliminate about 1,000
corporate jobs before the month's end, people familiar with the
matter said last week. In early 2016, Wal-Mart cut 10,000 store
jobs after closing 154 U.S. locations and said 450 positions at its
headquarters would be eliminated. Another 7,000 back-office
positions were cut from stores later in the year.
Many of those employees were rehired in other open positions, a
Wal-Mart spokesman said, adding that there has been a net increase
in U.S. employees during the past year.
On Tuesday, Wal-Mart is expected to announce a round of grants
to six universities working on textile innovations aimed at
bringing back U.S. manufacturing in that sector. It has made
similar grants in previous years, without mentioning U.S. job
counts.
The company is expected to reiterate its 2013 pledge to buy an
additional $250 billion in American-made, grown, assembled and
sourced products through 2023. It also plans to build 200 training
academies by this summer to teach retail management skills to more
than 200,000 store employees.
Write to Sarah Nassauer at sarah.nassauer@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 17, 2017 13:21 ET (18:21 GMT)
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