The roles, a mix of part-time and full-time
jobs ranging from freight handlers to lift drivers, will be
offered at 250 Walmart and Sam's Club distribution centers,
fulfillment centers and transportation offices, the world's
largest retailer said.
A nationwide labor shortage due to the COVID-19 pandemic has
spurred retailers to raise wages this year, with many worried
that they will not have enough workers in stores and warehouses
during the holiday shopping season.
Walmart said on Wednesday the average wage for supply chain
associates it plans to hire will be $20.37 per hour. It raised
average pay for U.S. hourly workers earlier this year to at
least $15.25 an hour.
Walmart did not disclose the cost of the additional hiring.
Retailers are also grappling with rising freight costs due to
bottlenecks at ports and container ship shortages as economies
recover from a pandemic-led slowdown.
Low-price retailer Dollar General Corp said on Wednesday it was
looking to hire more workers at stores and distribution centers
as well as truck drivers.
The discount chain, which has hired more than 50,000 employees
since mid-July, is offering a $5,000 sign-on bonus to drivers as
it expands its private fleet.
Rival Dollar Tree Inc is offering a $1,000 sign-on bonus to
ensure its distribution centers are sufficiently staffed ahead
of the holiday season.
Last month, grocery chain Aldi announced plans to hire more than
20,000 U.S. workers across its stores and distribution centers
and raise its wages.
E-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc will hire 55,000 more workers to
keep up with demand in retail, its cloud services and
advertising, among other businesses, its new chief executive,
Andy Jassy, told Reuters on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama, Ann Maria Shibu, Praveen
Paramasivam and Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi
Aich and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
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