Meet the typical retail worker: an elder millennial woman earning $18 hourly picking online Walmart orders
Oct 29, 2023, 16:42 IST
- The US has roughly 15.5 million retail workers, while 1.5 million Americans work for Walmart.
- Walmart's workforce is at least three times larger than that of any other brick-and-mortar retailer.
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As the largest private employer in the world, in the US, and in many states, Walmart is in many ways representative of the wider retail industry.The company employs over 1.5 million US workers, or roughly one-tenth of the 15.5 million people employed in the sector. A workforce that size means a worker is at least three times as likely to work for Walmart than for any single other brick-and-mortar retailer. In fact, Walmart employs more workers in the US than the next three largest physical retailers combined: Target, Kroger, and Home Depot.Those employees live and work in all 50 states, where the company operates over 5,200 locations, from big cities to small towns and beyond. If ever there was a "typical" retail worker, it is safe to say they work for Walmart.It's also safe to say she's a woman (53% of the company's hourly workers are), she's white (half of employees identify as Caucasian, half identify as non-Caucasian ethnicities), and a so-called "elder millennial" (the average age is about 39), based on company reports.She would also work at a Supercenter near Dallas, Texas, where the company told Insider it has the highest density of stores. The state is home to about 500 Walmart stores and 81 Sam's Club warehouses, and over 175,000 workers.Her job assignment is most likely to be either a stocker, who refills shelves with merchandise, or a digital picker, who collects orders for online shoppers, the company told Insider. Either way, she can be found in the aisles of the store either putting items on the shelves or taking them off.Although she might be demographically "typical," the job she does is anything but, a worker in Illinois told Insider. The worker requested that their name not be used, as they are not authorized to speak to the media. Insider has verified their identity and employment."The amount of sales that a typical Supercenter does is crazy. It's almost like Christmas at any other retail place every weekend," the person said.More than two-thirds of hourly Walmart workers are full-time, meaning they work an average of at least 34 hours per week — an unusually high percentage among retailers, where the industry average is less than 30 hours. Walmart employees who work at least 30 hours per week are eligible to receive health benefits.Retail in general sees some of the highest labor turnover rates of any sector, but Walmart's typical employee has been with the company for five years.CEO Doug McMillon famously started with the company as an hourly employee on the loading docks before rising to the C-suite, and three-quarters of Walmart's salaried managers started out in hourly roles."We're constantly working to bring our values to life through our culture and strengthen the ladder of opportunity," McMillon has said.About 5% of all US workers hold multiple jobs, and the Illinois employee said several of their coworkers worked another full- or part-time job or did gig work when they weren't at Walmart."If you work a regular nine-to-five, you could still work a closing shift or the weekends here because we're open until 11 p.m.," the worker said.Walmart told Insider it does not keep track of how many jobs associates have at a time.Some 600,000 people work for Walmart outside the US, and while the worldwide median employee earned $27,136 last year, the typical worker in Texas likely makes a good bit more.The typical employee likely earns $18.12 per hour in Texas, where Walmart's state average wage is slightly higher than its US average wage of $17.50. With a 35-hour average weekly schedule, she would earn about $33,000 per year.