Walmart Stores Inc. (Bentonville, Ark.) has announced the moving of 35,000 part- time workers to full-time status, and another 35,000 temporary workers to part-time, after struggling to keep shelves stocked with too few employees in the past year.
The retailer said these 70,000 workers will all keep their new positions after the holiday season is over. Also, about 55,000 seasonal workers will be hired for the holiday season, 5000 more than were hired last year.
In the past five years, Walmart and Sam’s Club have added more than 500 U.S. stores and cut their rolls by about 120,000 employees.
And, reports Bloomberg News, that workforce decline has coincided with customer frustration that there aren’t enough employees to keep shelves stocked, cash registers manned and shoppers’ questions answered.