If you hate working at a small firm, where everyone knows everyone, and you'd like to be a small fish in a big pond, here's a list of America's largest employers based on worldwide workforces, according to CBSMarketWatch (free registration required):
- McDonald's (NYSE:MCD): 1.5 million employees globally
- Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT): 1.5 million
- General Motors (NYSE:GM) (including GMAC and Hughes): 341,000 excluding contractors
- United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS): 359,000
- Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F): 350,000
- IBM (NYSE:IBM): 316,000
- General Electric (NYSE:GE): 315,000
- Kroger (NYSE:KR): 312,000
- Sears (NYSE:S): 275,000, not counting seasonal workers
- J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP): 250,000
An interesting aside: Once you have a company's employee count, it can be insightful to crunch a few numbers with them. For example, here are a few stats for Wal-Mart and McDonald's, which each employs roughly the same number of people -- 1.5 million. Except for market capitalization, the numbers are taken from fiscal 2002 reports:
| Per Worker | McDonald's | Wal-Mart |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap. | $21,364 | $156,406 |
| Annual revenues | $10,271 | $163,016 |
| Annual net income | $596 | $5,359 |
| Cash | $220 | $1,839 |
| Long-term debt | $6,653 | $14,097 |
| Cash from operations | $1,927 | $8,355 |
These numbers don't tell you everything, but they do reveal how big a powerhouse Wal-Mart is on a few fronts we don't usually think about. As always, a few calculations can help you understand a company better. Learn more about how to evaluate companies in our How-To Guides and online seminars.
If you'd like to talk shop about Wal-Mart and McDonald's, drop by their respective discussion boards. And if you're looking for a job, visit our Ask the Headhunter board.
