Macy’s: 150 Years of Productive Experience

Macy’s at 150. It gets you thinking.

Pretty soon, you’re calculating.

Macy’s Inc. is No. 91 in the Fortune 500, with 2007 revenues of $26.3 billion and stockholders’ equity of $9.9 billion.

That’s a pretty good showing, considering that not too long ago the predecessor company, Federated Department Stores, was ranked at No. 387, with 2004 revenues of $15.6 billion and stockholders’ equity of $6.2 billion, according to Fortune.

Here’s a number I’m more curious about: 182,000 employees. That’s the current approximate size of the Macy’s Inc. workforce.

Some back-of-the-envelope calculations.

Dividing the stockholders’ equity by number of employees is a way to judge the amount of value supported by each worker. Looking at earnings per employee is a complementary measure.

Financial Year Ending Jan. 31, 2008

Retailer             Employees     Equity        Value Support       Earnings            Productivity

                                             (billions)    (equity/employee)    (millions)     (earnings/employee)              

Wal-Mart           2,055,000      $64.6           $31,435             $3,449             $1,678

Target                   366,000      $15.3           $41,803                $635             $1,735

Sears/Kmart          337,000      $10.7           $31,750                  $65                $193

Macy’s                  182,000        $9.9           $54,395                $893             $4,906

JCPenney              155,000        $5.3           $34,194                $117                $755

Macy’s at 150 years may not be the largest retailer in the land. And granted, these numbers are from year number 149. But the company founded by R. H. Macy does seem to know how to get a very handsome yield out of its workers.

Nice work if you can get it – and I suppose, good workers to hang onto while you can.