Walmart Just Raised Its Hourly Pay For Thousands Of Workers

Walmart has good news for many of their hourly workers. The superstore chain has just announced they will be raising the hourly pay for 565,000 of their associates by one dollar per hour, according to CNN. Walmart employees who work in "the front end of the store, food, and general merchandise units" will be eligible to receive the raise. The dollar increase will go into effect starting on September 25, just in time for the holiday season.

This wage increase comes on the heels of an ongoing labor shortage, which has affected retail workers as well as fast food employees and other traditionally low-paying positions. As workers have begun to demand better compensation, Walmart and other retail companies have responded by improving their wages and benefits packages. Some companies, such as Walmart and Starbucks, have given out employee raises, while retailers like Target, Wayfair, Costco, and Hobby Lobby have raised their starting minimum wages to $15 per hour or more, according to Business Insider.

As of right now, CNN reports the average Walmart associate makes about $15.25 per hour. This is above the federal minimum wage of $7.25 (via Department of Labor), although Business Insider notes the store's starting minimum wage remains at $11 per hour. This upcoming raise will be the third such wage increase the company has implemented in the past year. 

In September 2020, Walmart's frontline hourly employees received a pay bump, with some associates in the deli and bakery departments seeing their hourly wage go from $11 to over $15 per hour, while in March, around 425,000 employees in the digital and stocking departments were given raises of between $13 to $19 per hour, according to Chain Storage. 

"Over the past year, we've raised pay for approximately 1.2 million hourly associates in our U.S. stores, increasing our U.S. average hourly wage to $16.40," Walmart U.S. Chief Executive John Furner said in a memo about the upcoming wage increase, via CNN. The company has also added other employment incentives in the past year, including offering to cover 100% of the cost of college tuition and books for full and part time workers who enroll at participating colleges and universities through their Live Better U education program, according to Forbes.