Worker shortage prompts Giant Eagle to offer $400 hiring bonuses

To receive the cash, the workers must stay on the job at least 90 days

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS

The competition for workers in the central Indiana job market has grown so intense that one retailer is offering hiring bonuses.

Pittsburgh-based grocer Giant Eagle is offering $400 bonuses if the 500 workers it’s hiring for its new Carmel store stay on the job for 90 days.

Giant Eagle regional vice president Mike Maraldo tells The Indianapolis Star there’s a lot of competition right now among retailers in the Indianapolis area.

In March, total employment in the Indianapolis metropolitan area topped 1 million for the first time. It has climbed by 25,000 jobs since then, even as the jobless rate fell to 4.5 percent in May from 5.7 percent a year earlier. A rate under 5 percent is considered full employment.