In the midst of chaos, Walmart — bugaboo of the left — hires 25,000 new workers in its first week of a massive hiring push

The U.S. — nay, the world — got some really, really bad news Thursday morning: Weekly new jobless claims hit a record level of 3.28 million. Couple that with the $2 trillion (actually $6 trillion) coronavirus bill rushing through Congress designed to help Americans in dire straits while piling on more U.S. debt, and one could be excused for exhibiting extreme levels of pessimism.

But there is at least one piece of good economic news buried in all of the day's negative headlines.

Walmart announced Thursday that it hired some 25,000 new employees this week, Fortune reported.

Evil Walmart to the rescue?

The left has long tried to convince the country that Walmart is evil, hating the chain that provides cheap goods for Americans largely because Big Labor doesn't like the store's opposition to unionizing employees. But now Walmart might be one of the nation's white knights — for both the right and the left — as unemployment lines grow.

Last week, Walmart declared it would hire 150,000 more temporary workers and give $365 million worth of bonuses to current employees.

In its first week of the new hiring surge, the big-box chain says it has signed up 25,000 employees.

According to Fortune, Walmart has shortened the hiring process "by eliminating formal interviews and written job offers, giving store managers authority to make verbal offers right away." This has reportedly shortened the process from two weeks or more to just a few hours.

Walmart's executive vice president of corporate affairs, Dan Bartlett, said the company is seeing an application surge and that by getting around the traditional hiring format that involved regional hiring managers, "stores are able to engage directly at the ground level," Fortune reported.

What else?

Some current Walmart employees have complained that the company should be offering more hours to current part-time employees instead of making new hires, the outlet reported.

But Bartlett said that's already occurring, noting that stores are prioritizing increased hours for existing employees before bringing on new hires.