BENTONVILLE, Ark.-- As the number of skilled tradespeople dwindles in the United States, Walmart is trying to build up its own workforce to keep conveyor belts moving, refrigerated grocery cases cold, and drains and parking lots flowing.
The nation’s largest retailer and private employer revamped its training program last year to increase the pipeline of maintenance technicians who do everything from repair equipment to electrical work at Walmart's distribution centers and stores — jobs that have become increasingly difficult to fill because of a shrinking labor pool.The shortage has opened opportunities for people like Liz Cardenas, 24, who started at Walmart in May 2023 as an automation equipment operator at a distribution center in Lancaster, Texas, making sure boxes were securely taped and went through a conveyer belt upright.Today, she is responsible for fixing conveyor belts and other equipment when they break at distribution centers.
Cardenas, who nearly doubled her hourly pay to $43.50 per hour, said she plans to pursue more training, which will mean an even higher salary and more responsibility.It also means financial freedom.“I was able to move out of my parents’ house,” she said.
“I have my own apartment.I was able to get a car, and and I’m able to give more to my 401(k).”A surge of retirements, along with a slowdown in immigration that began during the pandemic but now is accelerating with President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportations, are among the main factors behind labor shortages that bedevil some employers, analysts say.But in skilled trades, the problem is even more acute.
Consulting firm McKinsey analyzed 12 types of trade job categories, including maintenance technicians, welders, and carpenters, and predicted an estimated imbalance of 20 job openings for every one net new employee from 2022 to 2032.McKinsey noted “the extraordinary rate of churn” could cost companies more than $5.3 billion every year in talent acqui...