6,000 apply for 300 Wal-Mart jobs

Is this a reflection of what is to come in the economy? Where did they come from? What were they doing?

clipped from www.cleveland.com As the world's largest private employer, Wal-Mart is used to being greeted by large numbers of applicants almost every time it opens a new store. But the 6,000-plus people who applied for jobs at the new Supercenter in Cleveland's Steelyard Commons took everyone, even Wal-Mart, by surprise. When thousands of people compete for a few hundred ordinary jobs, trend watchers say it's an indication not only of a less-than-stellar economy but also of a workforce short on marketable skills. The huge number of applicants wouldn't have caught anyone's eye had these been skilled, high-paying jobs, the types of positions that thousands of people always seek. It could have been worse. In Illinois recently, Masten said, 25,000 and 15,000 people applied at two Wal-Mart stores in the Chicago area But these were regular retail jobs with low-to-average wages and benefits, not the sort of positions typically in high demand. Wal-Mart draws huge crowd - of applicants reflection on economy