An employee organizes Apple Inc. AirPods for sale at a Costco Wholesale Corp. store. from San Francisco, California.
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Costco raises its minimum hourly wage to $ 16, placing its initial wage above many of its rivals, such as Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy.
“Two years ago, we moved our hourly wage to $ 15 all over the United States. Starting next week, the initial salary will reach $ 16,” Craig Jelinek, CEO of Costco, told a budget committee meeting. Senate, Thursday.
The retailer has over 180,000 employees in the US and 275,000 employees worldwide.
The move comes as Congress debates raising the $ 15-an-hour federal minimum wage as part of President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion Covid-19 aid bill.
Target and Amazon both pay workers at least $ 15 an hour. Walmart’s minimum wage starts at $ 11 an hour, but recently announced increases for 425,000 employees that will increase the retailer’s average wage to more than $ 15 an hour. Walmart is the nation’s largest employer.
Since March last year, the chain has set its employees a $ 2-per-hour bonus to help cushion the financial strain the pandemic has brought on many people.
“As we approach the one-year mark of this additional payment, we will limit the temporary premium, but we will convert part of the premium into a permanent increase by increasing each step on the hourly wage scales,” Jelinek said.
Costco employees in the US have been in the company for over nine years on average, with over 60% of its employees with an average of five years or more of service.
Costco has 803 locations worldwide, including 558 in 45 US states, Washington and Puerto Rico.
The company was not immediately available to comment further on its decision.
Correction: the meeting took place on Thursday. An earlier version of this story missed the date.