The world's largest employers are not private companies.

Last week, the World Economic Forum's (WEF's) Agenda blog highlighted the organizations that employ the most people in the world. The post noted that the top spot is often incorrectly attributed to Indian Railways instead of the US Department of Defense, which employs more than 3 million people.

The good news for workers at the two largest private US employers — Wal-Mart and McDonald's — is that higher wages are here.