Walmart sets new job target at 150,000

Walmart is expanding its hiring push with plans to recruit 150,000 store employees, adding to U.S. employers’ search for new workers as the busy holiday season approaches.

The hiring will bolster the company’s in-store, delivery and pickup operations ahead of what is expected to be another tumultuous holiday shopping season as U.S. companies continue to deal with supply chain and labor issues.

Most of the jobs will be permanent and full-time positions, Walmart said in a statement Wednesday. The hiring goal comes on top of a plan the company announced a month ago to add 20,000 supply-chain workers.

The move by the nation’s largest private-sector employer signals even more competition for labor at a time when a tight market is already pushing companies to boost wages and benefits and enhance perks. Although retail employment hasn’t rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, the industry is expected to add 700,000 employees this holiday season, according to hiring consultant Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That’s down slightly from 2020.

Target plans to add 100,000 seasonal jobs, while United Parcel Service and FedEx are targeting a combined total of 190,000. Amazon.com is looking to hire 125,000 warehouse and shipping workers.

Walmart didn’t specify how many of the new jobs will be seasonal. A year ago, the Arkansasbased company said it would recruit 20,000 people to help with the holiday shopping rush. This year, many existing employees will probably look for extra hours during the holiday season, and “we’ll continue to offer those opportunities,” Julie Murphy, Walmart’s chief people officer for the U.S., said in the statement.

Walmart has implemented three wage increases this year as businesses have struggled to staff up amid the ongoing pandemic. It now provides an average wage of more than $16 an hour as well as benefits like paid college tuition and textbooks for employees.

Though average pay across all staff is higher, the company’s wages start at $12 an hour — lagging behind many of its competitors. Sam’s Club, the company’s membership-based warehouse retailer, is now paying $15. Target also offers $15 an hour, while Costco has set its starting hourly wage at $16.

Despite the hiring push, Walmart said it plans to make available extra holiday hours to existing employees that wish to work them.

Over the summer, Walmart began experimenting with all-selfcheckout Supercenter in Plano.