And handing out raises.
Chase is on a hiring spree.
On Thursday, J.P. Morgan Chase JPM 1.52% announced that it had added 2,626 positions in the past past three months alone. That’s on top of the more than 2,800 jobs the bank added in the first three months of the year. The hires put J.P. Morgan’s head count above 240,000 for the first time in more than a year and a half. It also comes after three years of job cuts at the firm.
It may also be a sign that J.P. Morgan is in better shape than its rivals. Goldman Sachs GS 2.93% cut 3,000 jobs in the first three months of the year. The firm recently notified New York City that it has plans to layoff another nearly 400 workers. Bank of America BAC 1.56% , too, has been cutting back. Earlier this week, the Charlotte-based bank said it was going to cut an addition 3,500 positions. The bank reduced its headcount by 10,000 last year.
And J.P. Morgan is not just adding to its workforce. It’s handing out raises as well. Earlier this week, the bank announced that it was going to raise the minimum wages of bank branch employees to as much as $16.50 an hour, from $10.15 and hour. The wages will impact the pay of 18,000 employees.
Of course, J.P. Morgan’s recent hiring spree could be a sign that the bank was overzealous in it cutting efforts of the past few years. J.P. Morgan’s head count peaked at just over 261,000 employees in the first quarter of 2012. Through the end of last year, the bank had cut just over 26,500 of those positions. So the recent additions are only a fraction of what J.P. Morgan has cut over the past few years.
On a call with […]
