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As the number of skilled craftsmen continues to decline in the United States, wal-mart Trying to build your own workforce to keep conveyor belts running, refrigerated grocery cases cold, and drains and parking lots flowing.
The nation’s largest retailer and private employer revamped its training program last year to increase the pipeline of maintenance technicians, who do everything from repairing appliances to electrical work at Walmart’s distribution centers and stores — jobs that have become difficult to fill because of a shrinking labor pool.
The shortage has opened up opportunities for people like Liz Cardenas, 24, who started at Walmart in May 2023 as an automation equipment operator at a distribution center in Lancaster, Texas, making sure boxes were securely taped and moved straight through a conveyor belt. Today, he is responsible for fixing conveyor belts and other equipment at distribution centers when they break.
Cardenas, who has nearly doubled her hourly wage to $43.50 an hour, said she plans to take more training, which will mean even higher pay and more responsibility. It also means financial freedom.
“I was able to move out of my parent’s house,” she said. “I have my own apartment. I was able to afford a car, and I’m able to give more to my 401(k).”
Analysts say the increase in retirements, as well as a slowdown in immigration that began during the pandemic but is now accelerating with President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportations, are among the main factors in the labor shortage that is troubling some employers.
But the problem is even worse in skilled professions. consulting firm McKinsey Analyzed 12 types of trade job categories, including maintenance technicians, welders and carpenters, and predicted an estimated imbalance of 20 job openings for each net new employee from 2022 to 2032.
McKinsey said the “extraordinary rate of churn” could cause companies to lose more than $5.3 billion each year in talent acquisition and training costs alone.
The shortages are coming as some companies are also laying off workers amid rising operating costs from the new tariffs, changes in consumer spending and increased spending on artificial intelligence.
business round tablea lobbying group of ceo Nearly 150 companies representing millions of workers nationwide launched a new initiative in June to address worker shortages in skilled occupations, including maintenance technicians. Co-championed by home improvement retailer Lowe’s, the initiative involves working with elementary, middle and high schools to raise awareness.
Marvin Ellison, Lowe’s President and CEO, said, “Although technology is constantly evolving, it cannot replace plumbers, electricians, construction workers, maintenance and repair professionals, or other tradespeople.”
For its part, Lowe’s launched a 90-day online training program in 2022 for employees who want to do jobs like carpentry and utility maintenance. Separately, its charitable arm has invested $43 million through 2023 in 60 organizations including technical colleges and non-profit groups to help recruit and train skilled trades such as maintenance technicians and plumbers.
Mervyn Jebaraj of the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, said these programs will help reduce the shortage, but they will not eliminate the gap, especially given Trump’s strictures on immigration.
“As long as someone physically needs to fix it, the shortage will persist, even if at the margins it will reduce some of the shortage,” he said. “We don’t have enough people.”
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon recently told the Associated Press that he believes the shortage is caused by “a lack of awareness.”
He said, “I think most Americans probably don’t know what makes a tech who helps take care of our stores and clubs and we can help them learn how to become a tech.” “So we need to spread the word so people know there are some great jobs out there.”
Walmart revamped its training program in the spring of 2024, focusing on its own workers with a tuition-free training initiative in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This year, it added new training sites in Vincennes, Indiana and Jacksonville, Florida. This initiative combines practical instruction and classroom teaching in areas such as heating, ventilation, air conditioning, electrical work and general maintenance.
Walmart said that by mid-November, about 400 employees had graduated from the program. With its first class of 108 associates completing the Dallas/Fort Worth pilot program, each graduate secured a technician role, putting them on a path to earning an average of $32 per hour. Walmart said it aims to enroll 4,000 employees in the training program by 2030.
RJ Zanes, vice president of convenience services for the U.S. divisions of Walmart and Sam’s Club, said Walmart was able to attract workers with diverse backgrounds from across the country, including those who run cash registers.
Maintenance technician roles are vital to keeping Walmart’s operations running smoothly, but especially during the holiday season. For example, according to Zanes, if a refrigeration system within a Walmart store malfunctions, the cost of lost product could range from $300,000 to $400,000.
“We have to stay away from it,” he said. “We have to make sure we have the right skills to do preventative maintenance, and when we have a breakdown, to make sure we get it back up and running as quickly as possible to minimize the cost of downtime.”