Layoffs Move Beyond Tech As Walmart Reportedly Cuts Corporate Staff

While layoffs have primarily been affecting the tech sector, it looks like they’re now coming for retail too.

Walmart is laying off hundreds of corporate employees amid a company restructuring, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The layoffs will affect departments spanning from merchandising to real estate and global technology, WSJ reported. One source told the publication that around 200 jobs at the retailer are being cut.

It hasn’t been an easy year for Walmart and other retail companies. Retailers have been facing a surplus in inventory, leading to markdowns and sales. Both Walmart and Target have recently said they expected their profit to decline, given their excess inventory.

Shoppers aren’t shopping like they did in the early days of the pandemic, and inflation has reduced the incentive to spend discretionary dollars. That, combined with supply chain issues, has created a pileup in inventory that retailers are now trying to get rid of through sales.

More than 32,000 employees of U.S.-based tech companies have been laid off so far in 2022, according to a Crunchbase News tally. So far this year, it’s seemed like growth stocks, which tend to be tech-focused, were the ones being hit. High-profile companies like Shopify and Coinbase have laid off employees, and some companies such as Netflix and Robinhood have recently gone in for a second round of layoffs after cutting staff earlier this year.

Walmart’s layoff news shows that other sectors of the economy might not be shielded from the macroeconomic fallout. Founded in 1962, Arkansas-based Walmart is the largest private employer in the United States, and one of the largest retailers. When it cut its profit outlook last month, other retailers such as Macy’s and Amazon also saw their stock prices fall, according to CNBC.

Illustration: Dom Guzman