Fastenal added 140 employees in 2021, as workforce loss in U.S. offset by international increases

Fastenal Co. FAST, -2.82% disclosed Monday that while its total workforce increased by 0.7% last year, but fell 1.6% in the U.S. The maker of fasteners, tools and manufacturing supplies said in its 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had 20,507 full and part-time employees worldwide as of Dec. 31, 2021, up from 20,365 employees at the end of 2020. Included in the total for 2021 was 16,548 employees located in the U.S., down from 16,820 a year ago. Meanwhile the number of employees located in Canada and Mexico rose 12.8% to 2,568 and the number of employees in 22 other countries grew 9.7% to 1,391. Fastenal’s stock, which shed 2.2% in afternoon trading, has lost 7.7% over the past three months while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.37% has shed 3.9%.