Kroger chain to add 1,200 jobs around southwest Ohio as part of expansion plans

The Kroger Co. is expected to hire as many as 1,200 people in southwest Ohio as part of a push to add 20,000 employees nationwide.

The Cincinnati-based grocer has announced it will increase its employee base in the Cincinnati-Dayton region by 8 percent. A company spokeswoman tells The Dayton Daily News that the 1,200 people will be hired in an area that stretches from northern Kentucky to Springfield, Ohio, about 25 miles northeast of Dayton.

The spokeswoman says the company's goal is to complete hiring by the end of October.

The company employs 375,000 full- and part-time workers in 34 states and Washington, D.C., and has more than 2,600 stores.