McDonalds to hire 375K US workers this summer most in years despite weak first quarter

McDonald’s said Monday it plans to hire up to 375,000 US restaurant employees this summer, its biggest hiring push in years.The Chicago burger giant said the beefed-up job openings at both company-owned and franchised stores are partly due to a US expansion.The company, which has more than 13,500 restaurants in the US, plans to open 9,000 more by 2027.US Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer joined McDonald’s US President Joe Erlinger at a McDonald’s restaurant near Columbus, Ohio, for the hiring announcement.“McDonald’s is sparking a ripple effect of prosperity for our workers, communities and the economy,” DeRemer said.

“By expanding their workforce, the corporation will be driving investment and setting the standard for industry growth, whether as a launch pad for a different career or as a ladder for internal achievements.”McDonald’s stressed that the new hires will be for permanent positions.But that doesn’t mean the company expects its US workforce to exceed 1.1 million people by the end of the summer.

The hiring takes into account that there are always a lot of workers coming and going at McDonald’s.McDonald’s said its last big summer hiring spree came in 2020, when it announced plans to add 260,000 workers.At the time, the company was reopening restaurants that were closed in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.Its decision to staff up for this summer signals optimism that US restaurant traffic will improve as the year unfolds.In the January-March period, McDonald’s US same-store sales — or sales at locations open at least a year — slumped 3.6%.

That was the biggest US decline McDonald’s has seen since the pandemic shuttered stores, restaurants, schools and other public spaces in 2020.McDonald’s said lower- and middle-income consumers, worried about inflation and the economic outlook, cut back on fast food during the January-March period.But other restaurant operators seem to share its optimism.US restaurants and...