Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Walmart Employment Problems

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) has recently made several very high profile appointments to an Employment Practices Advisory Panel, including a former mayor of Detroit and the highest ranking female general and other notable figures. Leaving aside the significant social justice issues the real problem for Walmart is the changing demographic of an aging population base. Walmart has relied on cheap labor. If unemployment stays down and long term demographic trends stay on course, the work force will not settle for Walmart job opportunities. This will have a fundamental impact on Walmarts cost structure. Walmart is unfamiliar with scenario's where they compete to acquire resources.