SC

Where Are Those 4,000 Walmart Jobs?

Walmart maintains it is on track to create 4,000 jobs in South Carolina by 2016 – fulfilling a promise made two years ago by S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley. But is the company really going to meet this ambitions target? And again … how much money are South Carolina taxpayers going…

Walmart maintains it is on track to create 4,000 jobs in South Carolina by 2016 – fulfilling a promise made two years ago by S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley.

But is the company really going to meet this ambitions target? And again … how much money are South Carolina taxpayers going to have to shell out for these mostly low-income positions? Walmart’s 2011 announcement was controversial from the very start – and in recent weeks we’ve had multiple sources question whether the company was really on track to meet its targets (well, the targets Haley announced for them).

In fact the announcement – which came in the wake of Haley’s disastrous mishandling of a deal involving a new Amazon “fulfillment center” – was widely viewed as a deflection effort by her administration.

FITS reached out to Haley’s office regarding the status of the deal and … as usual … received no response whatsoever. We also reached out to our sources at the S.C. Department of Commerce, however they reiterated what they told us two years ago – that the Walmart deal cut directly between Haley and the company.

“There was no Commerce involvement,” one of our sources reaffirmed.

Hmmmm …

Officially, Walmart provided us with the following statement …

Since 2011, new and expanded stores, along with stores currently under construction or out for bid, amount to a three-year total of nearly 2,000 jobs.  We have clearly accelerated our growth in South Carolina over the past three years and are confident we will meet the goal set by (CEO Bill Simon) by 2016.  We are continually evaluating opportunities to give South Carolina residents new options for jobs and affordable food.

Lot of wiggle words in there people …

Will Walmart really create 4,000 new jobs in South Carolina by 2016? Clearly that question remains very much in the air … which is illustrative of the caution with which one must view official “jobs” pronouncements made by politicians. Especially politicians as loose (with the truth) as Haley.

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35 comments

? April 22, 2013 at 3:07 pm

Why so negative? With enough taxpayer money Walmart can eventually hire everyone, no?

Taxbreaks: Yes
Tax payer funded incentives: NO!

Reply
Jan April 22, 2013 at 6:39 pm

There is no difference.

Reply
? April 22, 2013 at 8:04 pm

Of course not for you, everyone’s money is first gov’ts and they decide how much you get to keep.

Reply
? April 22, 2013 at 3:07 pm

Why so negative? With enough taxpayer money Walmart can eventually hire everyone, no?

Taxbreaks: Yes
Tax payer funded incentives: NO!

Reply
Jan April 22, 2013 at 6:39 pm

There is no difference.

Reply
? April 22, 2013 at 8:04 pm

Of course not for you, everyone’s money is first gov’ts and they decide how much you get to keep.

Reply
Spell Czech April 22, 2013 at 3:13 pm

Did you mean “ambitious target?”

Reply
Spell Czech April 22, 2013 at 3:13 pm

Did you mean “ambitious target?”

Reply
TrikkiNikki April 22, 2013 at 3:31 pm

Fits,
Do you think there is any direct connection between this story and the previous story about Nikki’s speaking engagement in Benton county, Arkansas? I ask only because this is where HQ is located for Wally World.

Reply
bobbie jo pepperdine April 22, 2013 at 4:29 pm

Read the comments under “Nikki Haley’s New Friends”

Reply
dwb619 April 22, 2013 at 6:48 pm

Maybe she will JAWBONE them.

Reply
TrikkiNikki April 22, 2013 at 3:31 pm

Fits,
Do you think there is any direct connection between this story and the previous story about Nikki’s speaking engagement in Benton county, Arkansas? I ask only because this is where HQ is located for Wally World.

Reply
bobbie jo pepperdine April 22, 2013 at 4:29 pm

Read the comments under “Nikki Haley’s New Friends”

Reply
dwb619 April 22, 2013 at 6:48 pm

Maybe she will JAWBONE them.

Reply
jch9596 April 22, 2013 at 3:54 pm

We should actually hope they don’t hire 4,000 people. Wal Mart sucks. They pay squat. Most of their employees have to get some kind of federal assisitance and the are trested like shit there.

Reply
dwb619 April 22, 2013 at 6:47 pm

Wal Mart is the biggest recipient of federal aid in country.

Reply
jch9596 April 22, 2013 at 3:54 pm

We should actually hope they don’t hire 4,000 people. Wal Mart sucks. They pay squat. Most of their employees have to get some kind of federal assisitance and the are trested like shit there.

Reply
dwb619 April 22, 2013 at 6:47 pm

Wal Mart is the biggest recipient of federal aid in country.

Reply
Aerator April 22, 2013 at 3:55 pm

Cleanup on Aisle 13!

Reply
Aerator April 22, 2013 at 3:55 pm

Cleanup on Aisle 13!

Reply
Smirks April 22, 2013 at 4:53 pm

4,000 Walmart jobs. How many of those workers are taxpayer subsidized employees, living off of food stamps and Medicaid because Walmart doesn’t pay them jack shit? And with such a small paycheck they hardly end up paying anything back into the system. Great legacy there, Haley.

That isn’t counting the likely number of gimmicks and weasel words Walmart is employing (rather than actual workers) to fill its 4,000 job quota, or how many jobs Walmart will kill when small businesses fold from not being able to compete with cheap Chinese plastic shit.

Better pay to send Haley and her peeps to another luxurious hotel in an exotic location to “bring jobs” back here, as we can clearly see it has worked so well for us thus far.

Reply
Smirks April 22, 2013 at 4:53 pm

4,000 Walmart jobs. How many of those workers are taxpayer subsidized employees, living off of food stamps and Medicaid because Walmart doesn’t pay them jack shit? And with such a small paycheck they hardly end up paying anything back into the system. Great legacy there, Haley.

That isn’t counting the likely number of gimmicks and weasel words Walmart is employing (rather than actual workers) to fill its 4,000 job quota, or how many jobs Walmart will kill when small businesses fold from not being able to compete with cheap Chinese plastic shit.

Better pay to send Haley and her peeps to another luxurious hotel in an exotic location to “bring jobs” back here, as we can clearly see it has worked so well for us thus far.

Reply
Fonz April 22, 2013 at 5:27 pm

More Haley lies, exageration and plain old BULL SHIT!
Her lips moves, she lies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply
Fonz April 22, 2013 at 5:27 pm

More Haley lies, exageration and plain old BULL SHIT!
Her lips moves, she lies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply
Doubter April 22, 2013 at 8:11 pm

To some elected office means service, self sacrifice. To others it means opportunity for personal and financial advancement.

Nikki Haley, Randy Scott, Alan Wilson all are the same. They take and take and take. Maybe, one day, they will get around to serving SC. But no time soon.

Reply
Doubter April 22, 2013 at 8:11 pm

To some elected office means service, self sacrifice. To others it means opportunity for personal and financial advancement.

Nikki Haley, Randy Scott, Alan Wilson all are the same. They take and take and take. Maybe, one day, they will get around to serving SC. But no time soon.

Reply
lowcorider April 22, 2013 at 10:27 pm

4,000 pos WalMart jobs will cost taxpayers $8,000,000 in food stamps, Medicaid, housing, and other public assistance. Then once a year it will cost the US Treasury $8,800,000 in EITC checks. These 4,000 pos jobs will provide payroll taxes and exactly 0 dollars to state and federal coffers. Great find there Nim. Lets bring some more of your Paki relatives over here to teach school. Methodist white woman my ass.

Reply
Lowcorider April 22, 2013 at 10:27 pm

4,000 pos WalMart jobs will cost taxpayers $8,000,000 in food stamps, Medicaid, housing, and other public assistance. Then once a year it will cost the US Treasury $8,800,000 in EITC checks. These 4,000 pos jobs will provide payroll taxes and exactly 0 dollars to state and federal coffers. Great find there Nim. Lets bring some more of your Paki relatives over here to teach school. Methodist white woman my ass.

Reply
Cleveland Steamer April 23, 2013 at 1:30 am

Walmart is pretty bad when I say I miss Kmart. Have you sampled their meat section or the formentioned plastic shit? Can you imagine 8 Arkansas rednecks are worth more than SC.

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Cleveland Steamer April 23, 2013 at 1:30 am

Walmart is pretty bad when I say I miss Kmart. Have you sampled their meat section or the formentioned plastic shit? Can you imagine 8 Arkansas rednecks are worth more than SC.

Reply
tomstickler April 23, 2013 at 9:01 am

Well, I’ll take some of the credit.

When a Mt. Pleasant developer bought a struggling shopping plaza in foreclosure in Pawleys Island, he planned to build a 149,500 sqft big-box store on the site. Walmart was the planned tenant, and there was talk of “200 jobs.”

I served on the revived Don’t Box the Neck committee that opposed this violation of our local zoning laws, and we were successful in reducing the building to the allowable 60,000 sqft. Walmart will not be the tenant.

One of the main reasons our community was so strongly opposed to Walmart was the fact that the total number of jobs actually goes down in a community after Walmart comes in, and to make matters worse, the wages of those fewer jobs is lower than for the jobs lost at local businesses that failed to compete with the largest retail corporation in the world.

So, a smart person would be glad that those 4,000 Walmart jobs did not happen.

Reply
tomstickler April 23, 2013 at 9:01 am

Well, I’ll take some of the credit.

When a Mt. Pleasant developer bought a struggling shopping plaza in foreclosure in Pawleys Island, he planned to build a 149,500 sqft big-box store on the site. Walmart was the planned tenant, and there was talk of “200 jobs.”

I served on the revived Don’t Box the Neck committee that opposed this violation of our local zoning laws, and we were successful in reducing the building to the allowable 60,000 sqft. Walmart will not be the tenant.

One of the main reasons our community was so strongly opposed to Walmart was the fact that the total number of jobs actually goes down in a community after Walmart comes in, and to make matters worse, the wages of those fewer jobs is lower than for the jobs lost at local businesses that failed to compete with the largest retail corporation in the world.

So, a smart person would be glad that those 4,000 Walmart jobs did not happen.

Reply
Joe April 23, 2013 at 10:32 am

Is this article coming from the same people that are suing to stop Wal Mart from building on the Capitol City Stadium site?

Reply
Joe April 23, 2013 at 10:32 am

Is this article coming from the same people that are suing to stop Wal Mart from building on the Capitol City Stadium site?

Reply
Guest September 27, 2013 at 9:46 pm

I remember when there was very little federal aid and there where about 10% in poverty, now with all the federal aid we have what, 15%, remember the government is here to help.

Reply

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