Robert Besser
28 Jan 2023, 14:30 GMT+10
BENTONVILLE, Arkansas: To attract and retain employees in a tight domestic labor market, Walmart has announced that it it will raise the average hourly wages for US store workers beginning in February.
It added that it will raise its average hourly wage to $17.50 per hour from the current $17, which will be reflected in paychecks on 2nd March, while the minimum wage it offers to staff at US stores will increase to a range of $14 to $19 per hour, depending on the location.
Some 340,000 workers at about 3,000 stores will be eligible for the increased wages, the company said in an email.
The retail giant employs 1.6 million workers in the US, mostly in rural and semi-urban areas.
However, its staff wages remain below rivals, such as Amazon, Costco and Target, which have been offering minimum wages of at least $15 an hour since 2021.
The US labor market has remained tight, with the unemployment rate falling to a five-decade low at 3.5 percent in December, and the number of available positions have outpaced the number of unemployed.
Therefore, the US Federal Reserve Bank could further raise interest rates, placing additional pressure on minimum wage earners and household budgets.
In a statement this week, Walmart said that the wage increases are a combination of regular annual increases and targeted investments in starting rates.
Get a daily dose of Dallas Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Dallas Sun.
More InformationUVLADE, Texas: Texas police stopped a Florida-bound freight train this week and discovered two migrants had died in a freight ...
ROLLING FORK, Mississippi: A powerful tornado has struck Mississippi, killing at least 25 people, injuring dozens, flattening entire blocks and ...
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras: In what could signal the end of his country's decades-long relations with Taiwan, Honduran foreign minister Eduardo Enrique ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: A new US Congressional committee focusing on China held its second hearing on the alleged abuses of the ...
SAN FRANCISCO, California: A new round of extreme winter weather that hit California, also drifted into neighboring Southwest states, with ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: After several high-profile near collision incidents, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a safety alerts to ...
BEIJING, California: As the world's second-largest economy is still struggling to fully recover from the long-term effects of COVID-19, most ...
NEW YORK, New York - Bank shares were being bought up on Monday as U.S. industrial stocks kicked the week ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: To address summer airport congestion and low air traffic controller staffing levels, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said ...
OTTAWA, Canada: After a meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Joe Biden, Ottawa has pledged to ...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: Deposits at small U.S. banks throughout the country dropped the most since 2007 after the ...
DETROIT, Michigan: In a briefing for investors and analysts this week, Ford Motor Co. reported that while its electric vehicle ...