J Sainsbury PLC (LSE:SBRY) has announced it will take on 18,000 temp workers for the Christmas period, including 2,000 at Argos and 1,000 logistical roles.
Outside of London, Sainsbury’s will pay £10.25 per hour, with the rate rising to £11.30 for those in the capital.
Tesco PLC (LSE:TSCO) and Asda have also both announced recruitment drives for the period, with each respectively looking to hire 15,000 extra staff.
According to Office for National Statistics date, there were 83,000 vacancies in the retail sector in the three months to August, adding to the record number of job vacancies in the UK currently.
Estimates place the number of job vacancies at 1.25mln, up by nearly roughly 400,000 on pre-pandemic levels, with the British Chambers of Commerce citing Brexit and Covid as reasons for the increase.
To entice potential workers, Sainsbury’s is offering a series of discounts as well as what it describes as a “market-leading salary.”
J Sainsbury PLC shares fell 0.8% to 198p.