Walmart's China imports cost 400,000 US jobs in 12 years

10 Dec '15

2 min read

Walmart Stores Inc's WMT.N import of goods from China led to the loss of over 400,000 jobs in the United States between 2001 and 2013, according to a report from a US-based non-profit think tank.

The world's largest retailer likely accounted for 15.3 per cent of the growth in the US goods trade deficit with China in the same period, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) said in a report.

US goods trade deficit with China increased almost fourfold to $324.2 billion in the 12 years till 2013, with Wal-Mart accounting for $48.1 billion of the total, the EPI said.

"Walmart has aided China's abuse of labour rights and its violations of fair trade (norms) by providing a conduit for the distribution of artificially cheap and subsidized Chinese exports to the US," the EPI said.

The EPI also said Wal-Mart's plan to source more US-made goods had resulted in very few actual manufacturing jobs being created.

Walmart said EPI's analysis was "flawed" and that the company adds jobs through areas of its business such as supply chain, logistics and distribution.

Walmart also cited a report by Boston Consulting Group that said the company will create an estimated 1 million new US jobs by 2023 through its US manufacturing initiatives, including direct job growth of about 250,000.

The EPI said the rising US trade deficit and more Wal-Mart imports will likely displace much more manufacturing jobs than the company creates in the US over the next decade.

Walmart had said in 2013 it would buy an additional $50 billion of American-made products by 2023, which would bring total spending on domestically-sourced goods to $250 billion.

The retailer had been under pressure from unions and other critics who have said the company's drive for low-cost goods was undermining American jobs. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India

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