Costco is raising its minimum hourly wage to $ 16 starting next week, the warehouse retailer’s chief executive said during congressional testimony on Thursday.
The $ 1-an-hour wage increase exceeds the pay that competitive targets, Walmart and other big-box retailers provide to their employees and comes amid national discussion about raising the federal minimum wage to $ 15 per hour Huh.
Earlier this month, Walmart said it would raise its employees’ average salary of $ 425,000 to $ 15 per hour, while still keeping its starting wage at $ 11.
“It’s not altruism,” Costco CEO Craig Jalinck told the US Senate budget committee on Thursday. “In the long run, by minimizing turnover, maximizing employee productivity, commitment and loyalty, we encourage our employees to provide a career to Costco rather than just give it a job.”
Jelinic said that half of Costco’s 180,000 employees in the US are paid more than $ 25 per hour on top of the company’s hourly pay scale and that most of these employees, they pay a regular twice-yearly bonus up to $ 4,000 per pop. Receive.
He said the average hourly wage for employees, including these bonuses, is about $ 24 per hour.
The Biden administration has proposed raising the federal minimum wage from $ 7.25 per hour to $ 15 per hour.
Jandinic said that Costco had added an additional $ 2 per hour to the so-called hazardous pay for frontline worker checks during the epidemic, but it would expire this year as the company adds a permanent wage increase.
The only member retailer based in Issacuah, Wash., Claims that its salaries and benefits have resulted in lower turnover, as more than 60 percent of its employees have been with the company for at least five years and for more than a third. More than a decade.
“We feel that the experience level and loyalty of our employees is a significant benefit to our company,” Jelinic said.
Costco’s move, industry experts said, is likely to put pressure on other large retailers to revise their salaries.
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