Walmart cuts 200 corporate employees, says it will continue hiring in ‘key areas’ – TechCrunch

Walmart laid off nearly 200 of the company’s employees on Wednesday amid the economic downturn and rising inflation, according to a person familiar with the development. The company said in a statement that these layoffs are part of updating its structure. Last month, the company cut its Q2 and full-year profit guidance, saying inflation is making people spend less on items like electronics.

The retail giant employs over 1.6 million people across its stores and supply chain in the US – these workers were unaffected by these layoffs. A report by Bloomberg found that the job cuts were affecting people in merchandising and last-mile delivery.

“We are updating our structure and developing selected roles to provide clarity and better position the company for a strong future. At the same time, we continue to invest in key areas such as e-commerce, technology, health and wellness, supply chain and ad sales, and create new roles to support our growing array of services to our customers, suppliers and the community,” a Walmart spokesperson said in an explanation.

While the company said it’s creating new roles in e-commerce and technology, it didn’t specify how many roles will be created.

Rising inflation has also hurt other retail giants like Target and Best Buy, as both have lowered profit targets in recent months. In its June earnings results, Amazon said it had reduced its global workforce by nearly 100,000 employees, a reduction of nearly 6%.

Walmart’s layoff news comes just before the government is due to release job creation data for July. Analysts are estimating that data last month will show 250,000 nonfarm payroll job additions, down from June’s 372,000 new jobs.