« I think the skills that we have as human beings are valuable. They always have been, and that’ll be even more true in the future. »
As artificial intelligence and demographic changes reshape the U.S. job market, the nation’s largest private employer is trying to identify the skills its workers and the broader labor force might need for the future.
Walmart on Thursday hosted more than 300 workplace experts and representatives from other companies participating in the Skills-First Workforce Initiative, a project to develop and fill stable jobs based on what people know how to do instead of whether they attended college.
The retailer already has launched its own employee trainingand certification programs to meet Walmart’s need for truck drivers and maintenance technicians, two roles for which U.S. companies say they can’t recruit fast enough as experienced tradespeople retire.
Walmart says it plans to offer a similar AI skills program next year through a new collaboration with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.
The Associated Press sat down with Walmart CEO Doug McMillon at the company’s sprawling headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, to talk about AI and the American workforce. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
MCMILLON: I would say pretty much a steady state. Turnover numbers are coming down. I’m remembering what happened during the pandemic and relative to that experience, things feel much more stable now. I think the pace of change in the employment market is just smaller and easier to manage.
MCMILLON: We continue to invest in wages. So I think that’s helping some, and that process will continue. As it relates to AI and the future of employment, I think for the most part, our folks are enthusiastic about it because they’ve seen new tools that they’re receiving that are making their jobs better.
