Walmart to Hire 50,000 Holiday Workers (WMT, TGT, KSS)

Breaking with its past practice, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) said today that it plans to hire about 50,000 seasonal workers and to boost hours for its regular employees during the 2012 holiday season. Walmart did not say how this number compares to its 2011 seasonal hiring total.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) said earlier this week that it would hire 80,000 to 90,000 seasonal workers, which is less than the 92,000 the company hired last year. Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS) had already announced that it would boost its hiring by 10% over last year, to a total of 52,700 this year.

Walmart’s announcement also did not indicate whether the number applied only to the U.S. or to its entire global network of stores. The company operates more than 4,000 U.S. stores with 1.4 million U.S. employees. It is the country’s largest private employer.

Walmart’s shares are down 0.2% at $74.58 this afternoon in a 52-week range of $50.03 to $75.24.

Paul Ausick