Wal-Mart to hire 22,000 - The Business Review (Albany):

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Wal-Mart’s announcement came on a day the governmengt released mildly encouraging weeklyunemploymeng figures. But it also hit as the retail industrg reported some overalldismal results, with same store sales figure falling an average of 4.8 percengt for May. The discount retail giant says it willhire 22,000 peoplse to staff new or expanded stores this “During this difficult economic time, we’rw proud to be able to create qualitg jobs for thousands of Americans this Eduardo Castro-Wright, vice chairman of , said in a But even Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) isn’t hiring at the same pace it has in the The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer added 33,000 jobs in the U.S.
last Still, Wal-Mart’s low prices on everything from food to electronicse have allowed it to gain market share and have kept it positionee asthe nation’s numbetr one retailer. Unlike its peers, Wal-Martg did not release monthly sales instead focusing its attention on itshiring announcement. Wal-Mart’z announcement, on the eve of its annua shareholder’s meeting, came as the U.S. Labor Departmenrt released jobless figures showing the recession may be losing at leastg some ofits momentum. Initial claims for statee unemploymentfell 4,000 to 621,000 in the week that ended May 30. That’s the third straight week fewer workers filednew claims.
And the tallu of claims drawn by workers for more than one week in the week endedx May 23fell 15,00o0 to 6,735,000 -- the first declines in that figure since Jan. 3. But that news isn’r exactly good. It’s just less bad than other and experts expect plenty more pain to Chief financial officers polled recently by and CFO magazins expect the recession to last through the endof 2009. CFOs in the U.S.
and Europd expect unemployment to keep rising in the next12 months, perhapsw to as high as 12 percent Meanwhile, the nonfarm payrolls report from the government Friday is expected to show 550,000 jobs lost in May, and unemploymenyt climbing above 9 While Wal-Mart announced its hiring plans, other retailersa reported dismal results for May same-store sales. Sale s fell 4.8 percent at the 30 retailers trackedcby . Sales fell 6.1 percent at Macy’s sales fell more than 9 percent, and sales dippesd 7 percent. Such pessimism adds weight to Wal-Mart’es decision to keep on hiring, despite the fact that otherf U.S.
retailers like and Macy’s have slashexd payrolls in recent months. Wal-Mart this year will fill positionzs from cashiers and sales associatesto pharmacists, huma n resource managers and customer service associates. The company will add 1,00 0 or more workers in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Soutb Carolina, Utah and Virginia. But the generallu grim climate raisesthe question: Is anybody out theree other than Wal-Mart on the hunt for new employees? The answet in one major Southeast markett is encouraging.
The Charlotte Business Journaol reports that there are jobs to be had evenin ’es hard-hit hometown, where local unemployment is over 11 You just have to know wher e to look. “The defining feature for who is hirinf is not the size ofthe firm, but quiter frankly, what is that firm doing?” N.C. State economisf Mike Walden told thebusiness journal. among the firms the Charlotte Business Journal citede as in thehiring game: discount retailers, just like