Wal-Mart to Create 10,000 U.S. Jobs

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.

Total Retail's Take: Wal-Mart joins its chief competitor, Amazon.com, in announcing that it will be creating thousands of new jobs here in the U.S. With the Trump presidency set to begin on Friday, companies are making very public displays of domestic job growth to avoid potential criticism from the incoming President. It will be interesting to see the breakdown of where these new jobs are coming from for Wal-Mart. Will the new jobs be primarily store-based positions, or will they be more e-commerce focused (including operations and fulfillment positions to handle online orders)? That may tell us a lot as Wal-Mart continues to chase down Amazon for e-commerce supremacy.