The U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart is firing more than 11,000 workers.

The company told its employees Sunday that it is firing staffers who give product demonstrations or recruit customers at its chain of stores called Sam's Club.  Most of those workers are part-time employees.

Wal-Mart says the fired workers will be able to re-apply for similar jobs through a contractor called Shopper Events that the company plans to use.  It is not clear how many contract employees Wal-Mart intends to hire.

Sam's Club is the second biggest U.S. chain of wholesale clubs, which sell food and goods at discount prices to members who play a yearly fee.

Sam's Club employs 110,000 people.  But it announced 10 store closings earlier this month, cutting another 1,500 jobs.

The job cuts come as the U.S. Labor Department announced that 482,000 Americans filed for new unemployment compensation last week - the highest level in more than a month.