San Francisco, CA, Dec. 30--With the gathering winds of an economic expansion at their backs, many top U.S. employers are entertaining adding to their worker ranks in 2004.
In furthering its global ambitions, Wal-Mart plans to add 160,000 new positions worldwide--123,000 full-time and 7,000 of them management positions--spokeswoman Sarah Clark said. The discount behemoth plans to add 50 million square feet of new retail space, an 8% increase over 2003.
The discount retailer's list of open positions goes beyond cashiers and stock people, Clark said. "We'll be looking for people in product development, assistant store managers, folks for our merchandising area such as buyers, people to work in the food area such as dairy, deli, meat, produce."
General Motors plans to add about 600 salaried workers to its North American operations, down slightly from the 700 it added last year, said Rob Minton, GM's communications manager for global human resources.
Experienced candidates in engineering, manufacturing and information systems are in especially high demand, Minton said. "We're really going to focus on employees that have the critical skills positions in the marketplace that we can't fill by redeploying our current personnel."
Oakbrook, IL based McDonald's plans to add more than 100 restaurants in the U.S. on a net basis in 2004, spokesman Bill Whitman said. He didn't know how many of those will be company-owned, but 85 percent of the nation's Golden Arches are franchised, he said.
"We're always looking for great people, but hiring decisions are really made at the restaurant level," Whitman said.
The top ten U.S. employers based on their worldwide workforces, according to the latest data available from consulting firm D&B and company sources, where available, include:
1. McDonald's--1.5 million employees globally.
2. Wal-Mart--1.5 million.
3. GM (including GMAC and Hughes)--341,000, excluding contractors.
4. United Parcel Service--359,000
5. Ford Motor Company--350,000
6. IBM--316,000
7. General Electric--315,000
8. Kroger--312,000
9. Sears--275,000, not counting seasonal workers.
10. J.C. Penney--250,000
At GE, the company doesn't set a specific hiring plan for its 11 global businesses before the year begins, spokesman Peter Stack said.
Instead, GE's hiring is "in response to business growth that occurs and opportunities that avail themselves to us," Stack said.
J.C. Penney said it's too early to tell what jobs will be available, but Penney's Eckerd drugstore subsidiary is opening 250 new and remodeled stores in 2004, with new markets in Colorado, Arizona and Alabama, Eckerd spokeswoman Joan Gallagher said. The expansion will create more than 1,500 new full and part-time jobs, and about 500 to 750 pharmacy positions, she said.
With a national shortage of pharmacists, job seekers looking to retool their skills would be wise to consider an education as pharmacists or pharmacy technicians, Gallagher said.
"Now's a good time to be a pharmacist," she said, adding that, "Well-trained, capable pharmacy techs are...invaluable in stores."
IBM doesn't have a target hiring number for next year but is always looking for electrical engineers, computer science workers, application developers, programmers and Web architects, spokesman Jim Sinocchi said.
Ford's hiring plans are confidential, spokeswoman Ann Marie Gattari said.
Kroger, UPS and Sears didn't respond to repeated requests for comment.
