Walmart to create 10k jobs

WASHINGTON: Walmart announced yesterday it will invest $6.8 billion in the United States and create 10,000 jobs in stores and e-commerce, a move for which President-elect Donald Trump quickly took credit. The investment in 59 new, expanded or relocated Walmart and Sam’s Club stores also will create an estimated 24,000 construction jobs, the company said in a statement.

“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,” said Dan Bartlett, Walmart executive vice president for corporate affairs. “Our 2017 plans to grow our business-and our support for innovation in the textile industry-will have a meaningful impact across the county.”

The company, which is known for inexpensive and frequently imported products, said it plans to purchase an additional $250 billion in American-made, grown, assembled and sourced products through 2023, estimated to help create one million jobs. Walmart and GM each announced investment and job creation plans yesterday, the latest in a series of companies to announce plans to do so-including Ford and Amazon-amid continued pressure, mostly via Twitter, from US President-elect Donald Trump who has threatened stiff penalties on companies that import products manufactured overseas.

Shortly after the GM and Walmart announcements, Trump used two tweets to claim the jobs were a direct result of his own efforts. “With all of the jobs I am bringing back into the US (even before taking office), with all of the new auto plants coming back into our..... country and with the massive cost reductions I have negotiated on military purchases and more, I believe the people are seeing ‘big stuff,’” he said.

Walmart’s Bartlett, who is attending the US Conference of Mayors in Washington, also will announce that Walmart Foundation will provide $3 million in grants through the US Manufacturing Innovation Fund to six universities “working to advance sustainability and innovations in textile manufacturing, which has proven to be one of the most challenging industries to reshore to the US.” The projects include commercial textile dyeing method that does not use salt or alkali, does not produce effluent, and produces more than 95 percent savings of both energy and water, and research to develop sustainable polyester fibers. The company also said it will open 160 new training academies by July, bringing to 200 the total number of facilities to train associates. — AFP