Walmart Inc. is cutting more than 2,000 positions at five of its U.S. ecommerce fulfillment centers, according to regulatory filings. The retail giant is reducing its workforce at a warehouse in Fort Worth, Texas, by more than 1,000 positions, the state’s workforce commission said April 3. It is also anticipating a reduction of almost 600 jobs at a Pennsylvania fulfillment center, 400 in Florida and about 200 in New Jersey. Walmart is also planning more reductions in California.
Walmart Inc. is cutting more than 2,000 positions at five of its U.S. ecommerce fulfillment centers, according to regulatory filings. The retail giant is reducing its workforce at a warehouse in Fort Worth, Texas, by more than 1,000 positions, the state’s workforce commission said April 3. It is also anticipating a reduction of almost 600 jobs at a Pennsylvania fulfillment center, 400 in Florida and about 200 in New Jersey. Walmart is also planning more reductions in California.
The job cuts come as the pandemic-driven surge in cargo slows, ending the boom times for ecommerce fulfillment centers. Walmart is also growing in some areas as it adjusts its stores and fulfillment centers to handle more online orders, a spokesman said in an email. This may enable the retailer to reshuffle some workers to other jobs rather than cut them, meaning the net impact on total employment at Walmart remains uncertain.
The job cuts are in stark contrast to rival Amazon.com Inc., which said in March it would eliminate another 9,000 jobs in addition to 18,000 recent cuts. Amazon is No. 1 in the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000 database, while Walmart is America’s largest overall retailer and is No. 2 in the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000.
The slowdown in cargo is also being felt in California’s Inland Empire, the warehousing mecca that hosts Amazon and Walmart facilities. The region was hiring workers faster than California and the rest of the U.S. last year, but now the gush of cargo that once flowed through the 27,000-square-mile area has dwindled to almost three-year lows and jobs are harder to come by.
Data released April 4 showed U.S. supply-chain activity fell to the lowest in at least 6.5 years in March, with low transport prices for goods driving the decline in the Logistics Managers’ Index. The Inland Empire, an epicenter of California’s 2008 housing crisis, occupies a strategic location just east of the twin hubs of Los Angeles and Long Beach. It collectively handles about $500 billion in goods annually.
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Sources: https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2023/04/04/fulfillment-center-woes-walmart-job-cuts-top-2000-california-jobs-disappearing/
