What American Companies Have the Most Employees?

HUBPAGES QUESTION: What Companies Have The Most Employees? -- asked by PhoenixV:

This Hub will answer a HubPages Question with three sets of data:

1. Top 10 low-wage private employers in the USA,
2. Top 10 US private companies with the largest employee groups, and
3. Top 10 Global companies with the largest number of employees

In addition, the Hub will show readers where open jobs with these companies are located.

This is the 2013 list of the top 10 low-wage employers in America. The companies in bold print also maintain the largest numbers of earners overall in the USA.

1. Walmart Stores -- 1.4 Million employees at low wages, about minimum wage.
2. Yum!Brands, including Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken/KFC*
3. McDonalds Corporation **
   
4. Target Stores
5. Sears Holdings, including Sears, K-Mart and others
6. Doctor's Associates, including Subway sub shops
7. Burger King Holdings
8. ARAMARK
9. Starbucks
10. DineEquit Inc., including Applebees and IHOP (International House of Pancakes)

Reference: Business Insider: Politics, February 13, 2013

*Yum!Brands' Top Executive is paid total compensation of $20.4 Million annually or $10,206 per hour, which is the highest top salary among the Top 5 companies above with the most low-wage workers. Each employee in the fast food units and offices works to send $1,401 each back to Shareholders in dividends and stock buybacks. Many people feel that at least part of this money could be used for higher wages. People are asking - "One person gets over $20,000,000 from tacos?"

This "Yummy" group of restaurants is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and operates at least 39,000 restaurants around the world in 125 countries, beating McDonald's for the Number One Fast Food Chain globally in a) number of restaurants and b) number of employees. In April 2013, over 34,000 jobs are open for Taco Bell in the USA, with over 124,000 Pizza Hut jobs, and 10,900 KFC jobs. Just about all US cities have openings.

For International jobs, visit: http://yumcareers.com/ and click on ApplyNow! (access maps).

McDonald's top person earns $4.1 Million each year the company pays Shareholders $6,945 per employee or $6.0 Billion total every year.

In April 2013, many McDonald's and other low-wage workers in New York went on strike - even without a union - to demand a rise in hourly wage from the Federal Minimum of just over $7.00/hr to more than double: $15.00/hour. However, on a 20-hour-per-week job, the increase would be about $1,375 more than the amount paid Shareholders per employee. Menu prices would at least double to compensate.

The companies in bold print are also companies with the largest numbers of low wage earners in America.

1. Wal-Mart Stores - 2,200,000
2. International Business Machines (IBM) - 433,362
3. McDonald's - 420,000
4. Target - 365,000
5. Hewlett-Packard (HP) - 349,600
6. Kroger 339,000 - This is a grocery chain headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.
7. United Parcel Service (UPS) - 310,010
8. General Electric (GE) - 301,000
9. PepsiCo - 297,000
10. Sears Holdings - 293,000

Reference: Forbes 500 Listings, Most Employees

These Top 10 Companies include 2 energy concerns at the head of the list, 3 Information Technology (IT) companies, 3 finance corporations, 1 automotive company, and 1 retail chain.

Only the last two companies, in bold print, in this list appear on either of the other lists. they are both among the largest maintainers of numbers of emloyees and Walmart is a top low-wage earner employer.

1. Exxon Mobil (energy) -- 41,060 MillionUSD or $41,060,000,000
2. Chevron (energy) -- 26,895 Million
3. Apple (IT) -- 25,922 Million
4. Microsoft (IT) -- 23,150 Million
5. Ford Motor (automotive) -- 20,213 Million
6. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (finance) -- 18,976 Million
7. American International Group (AIG) (finance/insurance) -- 17,798 Million
8. Wells Fargo (finance) -- 15,869 Million
9. International Business Machines (IBM) (IT/computers) -- 15,855 Million
10. Wal-Mart Stores (retail) -- 15,699.0 MillionUSD or $15,699,000,000

Reference: ibid.

The companies in bold print are also companies with the largest numbers of low-wage earners in America.

1. WalMart Stores Inc. - 2100000 - HQ United States
2. United States Postal Service - 826955 - HQ United States
3. Siemens AG - Conglomerate - 480000 - HQ Germany
4. Deutsche Post AG Courier (mail) - 470000- HQ Germany
5. PetroChina - Oil and Gas - 464000 - HQ China
6. Carrefour SA - Retailing - 436000 - HQ France
7. OAO Gazprom - Oil and Gas - 432000 - HQ Russia
8. United Parcel Service Inc. - Transportation (delivery) - 425000 - HQ United States
9. Sinopec - Oil and gas - 400513 - HQ China
10. IBM Corp. IT - 386558 - HQ United States
11. Daimler AG - Automotive - 362063 - HQ Germany
12. Home Depot Inc. - Retail - 355000 - HQ United States
13. Sears Holdings Corporation - Retail - 355000 - HQ United States
14. Target Corporation - Retail - 352000 - HQ United States
15. TATA Group - Conglomerate - 350000- HQ India
16. Veolia Environnement SA - Public utilities - 349000- HQ France
17. Volkswagen AG - Automotive - 329305 - HQ Germany
18. Ford Motor Co - Automotive - 327531- HQ - United States
19. Hewlett Packard Co. (HP) - IT - 321000 - HQ United States
20. Arcelor Mittal- Steel - 319578 - HQ Luxembourg

Reference: GlobalElites.net

Thus far, WalMart is on all of the lists presented above. It is the world's Number One Employer in terms of number of employees working and in the USA, the private company having the most low-wage earners and the most profits at the same time. One leads to the other.

Interestingly, WalMart's Top Executive Officer makes a total of $18,100,000 a year in various compensation - that's $9,066/hour! (Reference at NELP)

The amount of payments to WalMart shareholders in dividends and stock buybacks was $11,300,000,000 total or over $8,000 per employee. Each employee helps send $8K to stockholders by working at WalMart, often in a minimum wage position. Meanwhile, such employees (even full-time) often cannot afford to pay rent rent (see the book Nickel and Dimed).

All this indeed makes me think twice about purchasing anything from WalMart, Yum!Brands, and Target - and I must say, Target groceries in Ohio are more expensive than Kroger Supermarket groceries.

McDonald's is located in at least 100 different countries. Check SimplyHired.com in all its country versions for McDonald's jobs or go to McDonalds.com. On April 6, 2013, SimplyHired listed nearly 70,000 jobs for McD's across the USA. This included Crew People, Managers, Shift and Swing Supervisors, and others. The top 10 countries with the most McDonald's stores and emplyees are USA, Canada, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Guam, Japan, Netherlands, Panama and Germany.

In early April, Target in the USA advertised only about 4,000 jobs, mostly Team Leaders, Sales Leaders, and Distribution/Logistics staff. With a huge headquarters complex in the Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis MN, Target is the largest seller of gift cards in the US, because the cards do not expire and have no service fees. From 2013 - 2015, the company plans to construct up to 150 additional stores in Canada. Australia is another bastion for Target Stores.

The US markets having the most Target job openings are Minneapolis-St. Paul MN, Tempe AZ, Chicago IL, Las Vegas NV, and Cincinnati OH.

Over 25,000 jobs are available at Sears and KMart stores in America i Sales, Merchandising, Loss Prevention, Food Service, Technicians, Automotive Installers, and Stock.

Low-wage and more highly paid WalMart Jobs are all over the world (see map below), with additional countries targeted for new business. WalMart also uses a log computerized personality kind of test upon application and job seekers often find it irritating, intrusive, and sometimes offensive. The whole controversy of Background Checks becomes an issue as well.

Jobs in the USA during the first week of April 2013 included 3,400 openings, largely in Pharmacy Internships, Pharmacy Technician jobs, and other pharmacy related positions.