Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced Tuesday that it intends to boost its purchase of U.S. products by $50 billion over the next decade.
The company also revealed that, beginning Memorial Day, it intends to offer jobs to honorably discharged U.S. military veterans in their first year off active duty.
Claudia Mobley, directorof the Center for Retailing Excellence at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, was in New York on Tuesday with some students who are considering careers in retail.
The occasion was the National Retail Federation’s annual Big Show, a fourday event featuring new technology, networking opportunities and educationalsessions.
The Bentonville-based retailer’s announcements were “extremely well-received,” Mobley said. “It makes sense to do that. It helps the economy and it increases jobs and career opportunities.”
In a news release with a New York dateline, Wal-Mart said it aims to increase its purchases of U.S.-made items such as sporting goods, apparel basics, games and paper products to bolster U.S. production in textiles, furniture and high-end appliances.
The company has assigned a senior team to negotiate long-term buying agreements to assure suppliers that purchases will continue.
“At the heart of our national political conversation today is one issue: creating jobs to grow the economy,” Bill Simon, Wal-Mart U.S. president and chief executive, said in the company’s release.
“We are meeting with our suppliers on domestic manufacturing and are making a strong commitment to move this forward.”
Currently, the company said, about two-thirds of the products on the shelves at Wal-Mart stores are “made, sourced or grown” in the U.S.
Randy Hargrove, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said “sourced” includes some products that qualify for a made-in-the-U.S.A. label but could include a component part or parts, such as in electronics, made outside the country.
In the release, Simon also said the company is helping part-time employees who are seeking full-time hours make that transition, making sure that those workers are aware of full-time openings in their stores or others nearby.
Patty Edwards, retail analyst with Trutina Financial in Bellevue, Wash., said Wal-Mart’s plan to buy $50 billion more over the next decade from U.S. suppliers is “a nice shot in the arm for the U.S. economy.”
She was more impressed, however, with the company’s pledge to hire military veterans.
“You don’t make it through a tour of duty without having some skill sets,” she said.
“These are people who understand discipline. They have a work ethic. They would be excellent employees in most cases.”
Still, she said, her husband’s military experience, when he retired from the Army as a tank operator, did not help in one of his first jobs, roofing. He ended up joining the National Guard.
On Monday, The New York Times leaked Wal-Mart’s plan to stress the hiring of veterans.
Britt Beemer, chairman and chief executive of America’s Research Group Ltd. Inc., said a military background is helpful in most employmentseeking cases.
“Typically, they are superior workers because they are disciplined,” Beemer said, “and are often up to date on new technology.
“Except for people with medical-related issues, stress, the vast majority of them are certainly good employees because they work hard and do a good job,” he said.
Wal-Mart anticipates hiring more than 100,000 veterans over the next five years.
The company’s efforts to employ veterans drew kudos from first lady Michelle Obama, who along with Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, is leading the Joining Forces campaign aimed at hiring or training 250,000 veterans and military spouses by the end of next year.
“This is exactly the kind of act we hoped would be possible when we started Joining Forces - a concrete example of our nation’s love and support that our troops, veterans and their families can feel in their lives every day,” Michelle Obama said in a prepared statement.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/16/2013