By James B. Kelleher
BENTONVILLE Arkansas (Reuters) - U.S. employers may be hiring again, but the job market's recovery is not giving ordinary consumers enough confidence to increase their spending, a top Wal-Mart
In an interview with Reuters at the retailer?s headquarters, Bill Simon, the president and chief executive officer of Wal-Mart U.S., said, ?It's really hard to see in our business today ? that it's gotten any better.?
He added: ?We?ve reached a point where it?s not getting any better but it?s not getting any worse ? at least for the middle (class) and down."
Last week, the U.S. Labor Department reported that U.S. employment growth jumped in June, and the jobless rate closed in on a six-year low.
The news, which was seen as proof the U.S. economy was finally growing briskly after years of a lackluster recovery, helped send the Dow Jones Industrial Average above 17,000 for the first time ever.
(Reporting by James B. Kelleher in Bentonville; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
