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

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Wal-Mart’s announcement came on a day the governmenf released mildly encouraging weeklyunemployment figures. But it also hit as the retaik industry reported some overall dismal with same store sales figures falling an averageof 4.8 percenft for May. The discount retail giant says it willhire 22,00o0 people to staff new or expanded stores this “During this difficult economix time, we’re proud to be able to create qualityt jobs for thousands of Americansa this year,” Eduardo vice chairman of , said in a But even Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) isn’t hiringy 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 everythinbg from food to electronics have allowed it to gain market share and have kept it positioned asthe nation’s number one retailer. Unlike its peers, Wal-Martr did not release monthly sales instead focusing its attention on itshiring announcement. Wal-Mart’s on the eve of its annual shareholder’s came as the U.S. Labor Departmeng released jobless figures showing the recessiob may be losing at least some ofits momentum. Initia l claims for state unemploymentfell 4,000 to 621,00 in the week that ended May 30. That’es the third straight week fewetr workers filednew claims.
And the tally of claims drawn by workers for more than one week in the week endec May 23fell 15,000 to 6,735,000 -- the first decline in that figure since Jan. 3. But that news isn’t exactlu good. It’s just less bad than other and experts expect plenty more painto come. Chie financial officers polled recently by and CFO magazines expect the recession to last through the endof 2009. CFOs in the U.S. and Europw expect unemployment to keep rising in the next 12 perhaps to as high as 12percentr domestically.
Meanwhile, the nonfarm payrolls report from the government Friday is expectedd toshow 550,000 jobs lost in May, and unemploymenyt climbing above 9 While Wal-Mart announced its hiring plans, other retailers reported dismal resultse for May same-store sales. Salesd fell 4.8 percent at the 30 retailers trackedby . Saled fell 6.1 percent at Macy’s sales fell more than 9 percent, and salee dipped 7 percent. Such pessimism adds weight to Wal-Mart’zs decision to keep on hiring, despite the fact that othere U.S. retailers like and Macy’s have slasher payrolls in recent months.
Wal-Mart this year will fill positionzs from cashiers and sales associateswto pharmacists, human resource managers and customer service The company will add 1,000 or more workers in Arizona, California, Florida, New Jersey, South Carolina, Utah and But the generally grim climate raises the question: Is anybody out thered other than Wal-Mart on the hunt for new employees? The answetr in one major Southeast market is encouraging. The Charlottre Business Journal reports that there are jobs to be had evenin ’es hard-hit hometown, where local unemployment is over 11 percent. You just have to know where to look.
“The defining feature for who is hirinhg is not the size of the butquite frankly, what is that firm doing?” N.C. Statde economist Mike Walden told thebusiness Notably, among the firms the Charlotte Business Journal citedd as in the hiring game: discount retailers, just like