Wal-Mart Is Largest Employer in 20 States

December 22, 2015 by Douglas A. McIntyre

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), the largest company in America as measured by workers and revenue, is the largest employer in 20 states, a figure no other corporation or nonprofit can come close to matching. Wal-Mart has struggled with same-store sales recently, and with labor organizations that have rattled management over higher wages, but its total number of workers has not changed significantly.

Wal-Mart’s employee count in the United States as of the end of its last fiscal year was 1.4 million. It had 5,321 locations, including Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart stores. Of its total global revenue of $458 billion, $347 billion came from U.S. locations.

In an analysis of the largest company by state, 24/7 Wall St. found:

1. Wal-Mart employed nearly 34,000 Alabama residents as of February 2015, more than any other company in the state. Of the 138 retail stores Wal-Mart operates in Alabama, 99 are supercenters. According to the company, the average wage for full-time hourly associates was $12.57 an hour.

2. Excluding state and local government employment, Wal-Mart was the largest employer in Arizona with 32,373 employees as of the beginning of this year. As in most states where Wal-Mart is the top employer, there are well over 100 Wal-Mart locations throughout the state, 79 of which are supercenters. The average hourly wage of a Wal-Mart employee in the state was less than $13.00 last year.

3. Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, Wal-Mart is also the largest employer in the state, with 50,000 employees. Wal-Mart has about 2.2 million employees worldwide, operating nearly 11,000 stores in 27 countries. Wal-Mart’s net sales in its 2014 fiscal year were $473.1 billion.

4. There were nearly 95,000 Wal-Mart employees at 343 retail locations in Florida as of February, by far the highest headcount of any company in the state. Full-time Wal-Mart employees were paid an average hourly wage of just over $13.00 at the end of last year. Florida’s minimum wage is $8.05 an hour. While Wal-Mart wages tend to be quite low, the company recently announced it would invest $1 billion this year to raise wages.

5. With nearly 51,000 employees, Wal-Mart is the largest employer in Georgia. The company operated more than 200 stores in the state, 150 of which are supercenters.

6. Wal-Mart employed 51,137 people in Illinois in 197 locations as of the end of last year, a higher headcount than any other employer in the state. The minimum hourly wage for roughly 500,000 Wal-Mart workers nationwide will increase to $9 beginning in April. The increase will likely raise the average hourly wage of $13.08 at the end of 2014 for Illinois Wal-Mart associates.

7. Wal-Mart employed nearly 28,000 Kentucky residents, more than any other employer in the state. The retailer had more than 100 locations across Kentucky as of February.

8. The largest employer in Louisiana is Wal-Mart, which employed 34,633 people at 127 locations across Louisiana as of the end of last year. The nation’s largest retailer announced earlier this year it would invest $1 billion to raise wages for its associates. The investment will likely help raise the current average wage of $12.73 an hour of Louisiana Wal-Mart workers. While the economic effects of the wage increase remain to be seen, Louisiana lawmakers have argued that increasing the minimum wage would have a detrimental impact on business.

9. Wal-Mart employed 23,430 people in Mississippi, more than any other company in the state. As the largest employer in the state, the company’s recently announced wage increase may have a substantial impact on Mississippi’s economy. In its coverage of the announcement, Mississippi Public Broadcasting claimed the increase would improve personal incomes for thousands of state residents.

10. With more than 40,000 employees in Missouri, Wal-Mart is the state’s largest employer by a large margin. The company had 154 locations across the state, 109 of which were supercenters.

11. Wal-Mart employed 4,533 people in Montana at the end of last year, a relatively low headcount compared to other states — especially in states where Wal-Mart was the top employer. Yet, the retailer employed more state residents than any other company.

12. Wal-Mart’s 210 locations across North Carolina employed more than 49,000 people at the end of 2014, more than any other company in the state. Full-time associates had an average hourly wage of $12.87. The University of North Carolina System was also a large employer in the state.

13. Nearly 47,000 Ohio residents were employed at Wal-Mart’s 175 locations across the state, a higher headcount than any other employer in Ohio. With such a large presence in the state, Wal-Mart’s recently announced wage increase will likely have among the largest economic impacts in Ohio.

14. Wal-Mart employed 31,096 people in Oklahoma at the end of last year, more than any other employer in the state. The company purchases millions of dollars worth of supplies throughout the region. The company claims to have helped generate an additional 18,438 jobs in the region, as a result.

15. South Carolina’s 104 Wal-Mart locations had a total of 26,829 employees at the end of last year. No other company in the state employed more residents. To supply its stores in the state, Wal-Mart spent $1.1 billion in its most recent fiscal year, which the retailer claimed helped support an additional 20,488 jobs in the area. The average wage of a Wal-Mart worker in South Carolina was $12.76 an hour in November 2014.

16. Wal-Mart employs more people in Tennessee than any other company in the state, with a statewide workforce of 38,569 at the end of last year. The vast majority of the state’s 141 locations are supercenters. The average wage for Wal-Mart workers in the state was $12.71 an hour.

17. The nation’s largest employer — Wal-Mart — is also the largest employer in Texas, with a headcount of 156,195 across its 563 Texas locations. The company’s Texas workforce accounted for 12% of its national headcount, and no state had more Wal-Mart employees than Texas. As a result, the recently announced wage hike for Wal-Mart associates will have a disproportionately large impact on the state’s workforce.

18. Nearly 40,000 Virginia residents were employed by Wal-Mart at the end of last year, more than any other company in the state. State lawmakers turned down six proposals to raise Virginia’s minimum wage in the most recent legislative session. Wal-Mart, however, announced it would raise wages for 500,000 of its workers, a move that will likely impact a number of employees in Virginia.

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19. West Virginia’s 44 Wal-Mart locations employed 10,855 state residents at the end of 2014, more than any other employer in the state. According to West Virginia’s MetroNews, Wal-Mart has been the state’s largest private employer since 1998.

20. More than 4,000 Wyoming residents worked at a Wal-Mart at the end of last year. While this was a relatively low headcount compared to other states, no other company employed more people in the nation’s least populous state. The average wage of Wyoming Wal-Mart workers was $13.36 an hour as of November 2014.

Methodology: To determine the largest employer in each state, 24/7 Wall St. looked at employment figures for nonprofits and private and publicly held companies based on company press releases, government data, business journals and local media reports. We excluded military bases and other federal and state government employers, with the exception of state universities, which were included.

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