Walmart plans to hire 50,000 more employees to keep up with consumer demand during the coronavirus pandemic, the company announced Friday.

“Walmart is committed to helping our fellow Americans seeking work, while serving our customers during this unprecedented time,” the company’s Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer Donna Morris said.

She continued:

We recently committed to hiring more than 150,000 new associates by the end of May. Since then, we’ve had over 1 million applicants, hiring an average of 5,000 people per day. I’m pleased to share we reached our goal in less than a month – more than six weeks ahead of schedule. But we can do more. Today, we’re announcing a new commitment to hire an additional 50,000 associates.

Even though the hires will primarily be temporary associates, the company wanted to offer employment opportunities to those struggling during the health crisis.

“Hiring will be across our stores, clubs, fulfillment and distribution centers, but this won’t be a one-size-fits-all approach. Hiring 50,000 new associates will give us the opportunity to provide additional staffing in key areas where it’s needed most,” Morris said.

New applications for unemployment reached 5.245 million in the week that ended on April 11, Breitbart News reported on Thursday.

The article stated:

Last week’s initially reported total of 6.606 million was revised up slightly to 6.615 million. For the March 28 week, 6.9 million workers filed claims. The week before, 3.3 million. The new report brings the total of jobs lost to the coronavirus crises to just over 22 million in the course of four weeks.

However, the number of actual job losses due to the pandemic may be higher than the most recent figures reveal, the report said.

“Applications in many states have been hampered by websites and phone lines failing due to the rapid rise in the volume of claims,” it explained.

Morris said on Friday that Walmart worked with over 70 companies who had furloughed workers.

“We’re seeing these associates come to us from restaurant and hospitality industries and other retailers. Of the associates hired, approximately 85 percent are being hired into temporary or part-time roles,” she wrote.

“While many of these associates want temporary employment that serves as a bridge during this time, we also expect others to convert to permanent roles,” Morris concluded.