Walmart Will Raise Its Minimum Wage To $10 An Hour

[Well, it's an improvement - a couple bucks more per hour and maybe some of their workers can get off welfare and the taxpayers will be able to stop having to subsidize them. - Bozo]
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by Bryce Covert
Posted on February 19, 2015 at 9:06 am Updated: February 19, 2015 at 10:23 am
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On Thursday, Walmart announced that it will raise all of its full-time and part-time employees' pay to at least $9 an hour starting in April. The lowest wage will rise to $10 an hour by February of next year.
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In a press release, it said it is also raising pay for the compensation range for each position, and all told says that about 500,000 employees will see a raise from the changes. It also says the raises will mean its average hourly wage for full-time workers will increase from $12.85 to $13 an hour and the average for part-time workers will increase from $9.48 to $10 an hour.
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It also promised that workers "will have more control over their schedules." The wage increases will cost more than $1 billion this fiscal year.
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In announcing the changes, CEO Doug McMillion acknowledged some of the criticism that the company has sacrificed customer loyalty because of its pay practices. "We have work to do to grow the business. We know what customers want from a shopping experience, and we're investing strategically to exceed their expectations and better position Walmart for the future," he said. "We're strengthening investments in our people to engage and inspire them to deliver superior customer experiences."
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The company, which is the nation's largest employer, has long come under fire for its low pay. While the company has said that it pays most workers above the minimum wage, it has also admitted in the past that the majority of its employees make under $25,000 a year. One study from 2013 of a single store in Wisconsin found that its pay was so low that workers consumed about $1 million in public benefits to get by.
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Workers have repeatedly gone on strike over the past three years to demand higher pay, better scheduling, and the right to unionize. They have called for the store's wage floor to rise to at least $15 an hour. Thursday's announcement also comes after so many states raised their minimum wages above the federal $7.25 level that a third of Walmart stores had to raise their base wages anyway.
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