Wal-Mart Stores will buy an additional US$50 billion in US-made products over the next decade in what it called a bid to help boost the US economy, although the announcement is unlikely to appease critics who say the world's largest retailer imports too much from low-wage suppliers in countries like China.
Wal-Mart, the largest private employer in the United States, also said on Tuesday it plans to hire 100,000 newly discharged veterans over the next five years, at a time when the US unemployment rate is at 7.8 per cent.
Wal-Mart said the plan to buy more US-made goods is an effort to create US jobs and spur economic growth. Critics countered that the company and other retailers could help the economy by paying better wages and offering workers more regular hours.
The moves come as the US economy continues to grow slowly 3-1/2 years after the end of a severe recession. An average of US$5 billion a year in spending is a drop in the bucket for the US$15 trillion US economy, and the question is how many other retailers could do the same.
Terry Lundgren, chief executive of Macy’s and until this month the chairman of the National Retail Federation, told Reuters that Wal-Mart’s plans to buy American were good but that cost would still be an issue.
“We would all love to do that, the customer will not pay more,” Lundgren told Reuters on the sidelines of an NRF event where Wal-Mart presented its plans.