Walmart, GM and Amazon to Create New US Jobs as Macy and American Apparel Begin Mass Lay-Offs
Automakers and e-commerce sites promise more American jobs in the next few years while retail brands falter.
Ahead of Donald Trump's Presidency, more and more corporations are announcing plans to create jobs in the United States.
Walmart, the only retail store that is adding and not reducing jobs, announced that it will be making $6.8 billion of capital investments in the United States for remodelling or expanding its Walmart and Sam's Club stores. In doing so the retail brand will hire 10,000 new people and add 24,000 temporary jobs for construction and renovation.
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The company also reaffirmed its 2013 plans of purchasing $250 billion worth of American-made products through 2023. Walmart estimates that this undertaking will add 1 million US jobs directly, along with 1,000 other jobs created by three suppliers who are moving operations from foreign countries back to the U.S.
E-commerce giant Amazon announced that over the next 18 months, his company will create 100,000 new full-time jobs in the United States. "These jobs are not just in our Seattle headquarters or in Silicon Valley, they're in our customer service network, fulfillment centers and other facilities through the country," said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
Despite the plan being in the pipeline for several months, Amazon announced it only after Donald Trump met with Silicon Valley executives and urged them to keep their jobs and production inside the United States. It is a politically adept move that will surely do more good for Amazon than harm.
General Motors, following the likes of Fiat Chrysler and Ford, also announced that it will be investing at least $1 billion in several factories across the United States which would see the creation of 7,000 new jobs. The announcement came after Trump admonished the car maker for selling foreign-manufactured cars in the U.S. However, GM did not say anything about the termination of 3,000 American jobs set to begin later this month.
The Death of Brick-and-Mortar Retail
Once prominent retail stores are closing their shutters as they struggle to compete with an increasingly digital world of commerce.
On January 4 Macy's released a statement saying that the brand would be shutting down 68 stores and streamlining its management team which would result in the lost of nearly 10,000 jobs.
American Apparel, famous for its "Made in the USA" slogan, has finally began the mass lay-offs that were forecasted after the company declared bankruptcy, for the second time, last year. A spokeswoman for the brand confirmed that company was laying off around 2,400 workers in Southern California.
Sears Holdings Corp. has also announced that it will be closing 150 Sears and Kmart stores. The number of jobs which will be eliminated by this move are undisclosed.
