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Last year Wal-mart added close to 30,000 jobs to it’s domestic labor force. In 2009 it now predicts it will add another 22,000 positions nationwide. In fact in some hard hit states like California, Florida and Michigan, Wal-Mart plans to add over 1,000 jobs in each.

Wal-Mart is the largest private-sector employer in the US with a labor force of 1.45 million workers. Wal-Mart’s strong retail sales outlook for 2009 continues to highlight a significant rebound in from discount and value retailers since the dismal Q4 of last year.

Expect similar hiring metrics from 10 top retailers that have also experienced strong than expected Q1 results.

“We’re proud to be able to create quality jobs for thousands of Americans this year,” said Eduardo Castro-Wright, vice-chairman in a company statement.

New Wal-mart employees have found jobs this year in a wide swath of disciplines including pharmacists, human resource managers, and customer service associates.

Separately new data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, shows that corporate layoffs in May have free fallen 55% from their January high. The reported levels are now close to rates that could almost be considered “normal.”

On Thursday the government reported that the number of continuing claims for state unemployment benefits has now started to decline. This is one of the last indicators to mark the stabilization of the labor market following a recessionary period. First-time claims also continued to fall, reaching the lowest level since early May.

Now that the recession has ended, the rate at which these labor level indicators continue to fall will be an additional indicator on how strong this new growth cycle will be.

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