Between 2001 and 2013, this growing deficit eliminated or displaced 3.2 million U.S. jobs (Kimball and Scott 2014). As the world's largest retailer, it seems to follow that U.S.-based Walmart would be a key contributor to the climbing deficit and subsequent job losses. This paper updates earlier work (Scott 2007) to provide a conservative estimate of how many jobs have likely been displaced by Chinese imports entering the country through Wal-Mart: 
 
 Chinese imports entering through Wal-Mart in 2013 likely totaled at least $49.1 billion and the combined effect of imports from and exports to China conducted through Wal-Mart likely accounted for 15.3 percent of the growth of the total U.S. goods trade deficit with China between 2001 and 2013. It estimates Walmart alone contributed to over 400,000 job losses over those 12 years, and speculates that about 75% of those were manufacturing jobs which offer better pay and benefits than other affected industries, particularly for workers who lack a college education. To date, very few actual U.S. jobs have been created by this program, and since 2001, the growing Wal-Mart trade deficit with China has displaced more than 100 U.S. jobs for every actual or promised job created through this program. The study states that, in total, the U.S. trade deficit resulted in a net job loss of nearly 1 million in 2001; that number rose to over 4 million by 2013. A spokesperson for the company criticized the study: 
 
 We are very proud of our U.S. manufacturing initiative and the results speak for themselves. By investing in products that support American jobs, we are able to bring new products to our shelves while bringing new jobs to local communities in Ohio, Tennessee, California, and many others.  The Economic Policy Institute recently published a study estimating how many jobs Walmart has effectively eliminated or displaced as a result of its contribution to the U.S. trade deficit with China .
– America's favorite big-box retailer may be responsible for the loss of hundreds of thousands of US jobs since 2001, Fortune reports. According to a new study from the Economic Policy Institute, Walmart's importing of cheap Chinese goods resulted in the elimination of 400,000 American jobs between 2001 and 2013 by increasing the US' trade deficit with China. It's an estimate the EPI calls "conservative." About three-quarters of those lost jobs were likely manufacturing jobs, Fortune reports. "These job losses are particularly destructive because jobs in the manufacturing sector pay higher wages and provide better benefits than most other industries, especially for workers with less than a college education," the study states. The EPI estimates Walmart is responsible for more than 15% of the trade deficit growth from 2001 to 2013, costing 3.2 million US jobs. Fortune reports the EPI's study is based on a 2007 report and—because Walmart doesn't release specifics on its imports—"guesswork." Needless to say, Walmart disagrees with the EPI's findings. "Unfortunately, this is an old report with flawed economic analysis that assumed that imports equal job losses and does not take into consideration that countless jobs are added," Fortune quotes a Walmart statement. Economists agree, pointing to retail and transportation jobs created by importing goods, according to the New York Times. In 2013, Walmart announced it would increase its use of American-made goods by $50 billion over the next decade. But the EPI counters that Walmart's importing of Chinese goods has cost 100 US jobs for every one American job it creates with that program.