In a statement Monday, McDonald’s said they plan to hire up to 50,000 employees in close to 14,000 restaurants nationwide. Oh, and they’re going to do it all in one day.
April 19, to be exact. On their first national hiring day, they’ll raise their U.S. workforce to 700,000, a hiring that will cost them an extra $518 million on wages and salaries in both crew and management positions. According to the release, the average wage for new employees will be $8.30 an hour, more than a dollar above federal minimum wage.
(More on TIME.com: Watch a video of the Unemployment Olympics)
McDonald’s may have their own publicity as incentive in supersizing their hiring, but a tough economy welcomes jobs for just about any reason. And though most of the jobs won’t be exactly high-level, McDonald’s will account for over 15% of the 300,000 jobs that economists say must be created each month to make a significant difference in the unemployment rate.
Moves like this, combined with a falling unemployment rate that in March hit a two-year low of 8.8 percent, may allow Americans to afford a few meals a little pricier than McDonald’s.
(More on TIME.com: Is the Drop in the Unemployment Rate a Bad Sign for the Economy?)