Economist Tucker Hart Adams on Tuesday said she was little concerned about this week’s announcement that Wal-Mart intends to slow its rate of national expansion.
Wal-Mart is Colorado’s largest private employer. As of September, the Bentonville, Ark.- based retailer employed 24,142 people in the state, according to its website.
The company said at the start of a two-day investors meeting Monday it will slow the pace of store openings in what is viewed as a response to sagging sales and earnings growth at its existing 6,700 stores worldwide.
Wal-Mart operates 46 Supercenters, 13 discount stores and 15 Sam’s Clubs in the state.
“In general, retail stores don’t pay particularly high wages,” said Adams, a regional economist for U.S. Bank. “It’s just one type of job that we have. It serves a purpose, but basically Wal-Mart and Safe way and other retailers are recirculating money that’s already in the community” rather than bringing additional money into the economy.
A Wal-Mart spokesman did not return a call for comment.
Wal-Mart says on its website it spent $987,170,142 for merchandise and services with 1,056 local suppliers in Colorado in 2006. The company collected more than $238.2 million in sales taxes in Colorado and paid more than $18.3 million in state and local taxes, according to the website.
Staff writer Kristi Arellano can be reached at 303-954-1902 or karellano@denverpost.com.
