Walmart and other US companies want to build a pipeline of skilled
tradespeople
[December 20, 2025] By
ANNE D'INNOCENZIO
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) — As the number of skilled tradespeople dwindles
in the United States, Walmart is trying to build up its own workforce to
keep conveyor belts moving, 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 repair equipment to electrical work at Walmart's
distribution centers and stores — jobs that have become increasingly
difficult to fill because of a shrinking labor pool.
The shortage has opened 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 went through a conveyer belt upright. Today, she is
responsible for fixing conveyor belts and other equipment when they
break at distribution centers.
Cardenas, who nearly doubled her hourly pay to $43.50 per hour, said she
plans to pursue more training, which will mean an even higher salary and
more responsibility. It also means financial freedom.
“I was able to move out of my parents’ house,” she said. “I have my own
apartment. I was able to get a car, and and I’m able to give more to my
401(k).”
A surge of retirements, along with a slowdown in immigration that began
during the pandemic but now is accelerating with President Donald
Trump’s aggressive deportations, are among the main factors behind labor
shortages that bedevil some employers, analysts say.
But in skilled trades, the problem is even more acute. 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 every one net new employee
from 2022 to 2032.
McKinsey noted “the extraordinary rate of churn” could cost companies
more than $5.3 billion every year in talent acquisition and training
costs alone.
The shortages are happening as some companies are also laying off
workers amid rising operational costs from new tariffs, shifting
consumer spending and increased spending on artificial intelligence.
Business Roundtable, a lobbying group of CEOs from roughly 150 companies
representing millions of employees nationwide, launched in June a new
initiative to address worker shortages in skilled trades, including
maintenance technicians. The initiative, co-championed by home
improvement retailer Lowe’s, entails working with elementary, middle and
high schools to raise awareness.
“While technology continues to evolve, it cannot replace plumbers,
electricians, construction workers, maintenance and repair pros, or
other tradespeople,” said Marvin Ellison, chairman and CEO of Lowe’s.
For its part, Lowe’s in 2022 started a 90-day online training program
for employees who want to pursue jobs like carpentry and utility
maintenance. Separately, its charitable arm has invested $43 million
since 2023 to 60 organizations including technical colleges and
non-profit groups to help recruit and train skilled tradespeople like
maintenance technicians and plumbers.
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Maintenance technician Liz Cardenas completes a task on an
electronics test platform at a training area in a Walmart
distribution center Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Bentonville, Ark.
(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
 Mervin Jebaraj of the University of
Arkansas’s Walton College of Business in Fayetteville, Arkansas,
noted these programs will help ease the shortages, but they won’t
eliminate the gap, particularly given Trump’s clampdown on
immigration.
“For as long as somebody physically needs to fix this, the shortage
will persist, even though on the margins it’ll mitigate some of the
shortage,” he said. “We don’t have enough people.”
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon recently told The Associated Press he
believes part of the reason for the shortages is “lack of
awareness.”
“I think most Americans probably don’t know what a tech makes that
helps take care of our stores and clubs and that we can help them
learn how to be a tech,” he said. “So we have a need to get the word
out so that people know there are some great jobs.”
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. The
initiative combines hands-on instruction and classroom learning in
fields like heating, ventilation, air conditioning, electrical work,
and general maintenance.
As of mid-November, almost 400 employees had graduated from the
program, Walmart said. With its first class of 108 associates who
completed the Dallas/Fort Worth pilot program, every graduate
secured a technician role, putting them on a path to earn an average
of $32 per hour. Walmart said its goal is to put 4,000 workers
through the training program by 2030.
R.J. Zanes, vice president of facility services for the U.S.
divisions of Walmart and Sam’s Club, said Walmart was able to
attract workers from all over the country with different
backgrounds, including employees running cash registers.
Maintenance technician roles are crucial to keeping Walmart's
operations running smoothly, but especially so during the holiday
season. For example, if a refrigeration system goes down within a
Walmart store, it could cost up to $300,000 to $400,000 worth of
lost product, according to Zanes.
"We’ve got to stay out in front of that," he said. “We have to
ensure that we’ve got the right skills there to do preventative
maintenance, and when we do have a breakdown, to make sure that we
get it back up as fast as possible to minimize that cost of
downtime."
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