Wal-Mart to hire 22,000 - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Wal-Mart's announcement came on a day the government releasedc mildly encouraging weeklyunemployment figures. But it also hit as the retaikl industry reported some overalldismapl results, with same store sales figures falling an average of 4.8 percent for May. The discount retaiol giant it willhire 22,00o people to staff new or expanded stores this "During this difficult economic time, we'r proud to be able to creatwe quality jobs for thousands of Americans this Eduardo Castro-Wright, vice chairman of , said in a But even Wal-Mart isn’t hiriny at the same pace it has in the past. The Ark.-based retailer added 33,000 jobs in the U.S.
last Still, Wal-Mart’s low prices on everything from food to electronics have allowee it to gain market share and have kept it positioned asthe nation’z number one retailer. Unlike its peers, Wal-Mart did not releasew monthly sales figures, instead focusing its attentionb on itshiring announcement. Wal-Mart’s on the eve of its annual shareholder’s meeting, came as the U.S. Labof Department released jobless figures showing the recession may be losinbg at least some of its Initial for state unemploymentfell 4,00 0 to 621,000 in the week that ended May 30. That’s the thirds straight week fewer workers filednew claims.
And the tallh of claims drawn by workers for more than one week in the week endesd May 23fell 15,000 to 6,735,000 -- the firstg decline in that figure since Jan. 3. But that news isn’rt exactly good. It’s just less bad than other and experts expectto come. Chief financial officers polledd recently by Duke University and CFO magazine expect the recessionm to last through the endof 2009. CFOs in the U.S.
and Europse expect unemployment to keep rising in the next12 months, perhaps to as high as 12 percent Meanwhile, the nonfarm payrolls from the governmengt Friday is expected to show 550,000 jobs lost in May, and unemployment climbing above 9 While Wal-Mart announced its hiring plans, othedr retailers reported for May same-store sales. Sales fell 4.8 percent at the 30 retaileras tracked byThomson Reuters. Sales fell 6.1 percentr at , sales fell more than 9 and sales dipped 7 Such pessimism adds weightto Wal-Mart’s decision to keep on hiring, despitse the fact that like and Macy’s have slashed payrolls in recent months.
Wal-Mart this year will from cashiers and salesz associatesto pharmacists, human resourcr managers and customer servicwe associates. The company will add 1,00o or more workers in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, New South Carolina, Utah and Virginia. But the generally grim climatee raisesthe question: Is anybody out there other than Wal-Mart on the hunt for new employees The answer in one major Southeast market is The reports that there are jobs to be had even in Bank of America’sa hard-hit hometown, where local unemployment is over 11 You just have to know wherse to look. “The defining feature for who is hiring is not the size of the butquite frankly, what is that firm doing?
” N.C. State economist Mike Waldebn told thebusiness journal. Notably, among the firms the Charlottes Business Journal cited as in thehiring game: discoun retailers, just like Wal-Mart.