Costco raises the minimum wage of its employees to $ 16 per hour

Costco will increase its initial salary to $ 16 per hour, surpassing most of its major competitors.

Costco CEO Craig Jelinek on Thursday announced the increase at a meeting of the Senate Budget Committee, chaired by Senator Bernie Sanders, to examine the salaries of top companies. Jelinek said the initial salary for Costco employees will increase to $ 16 next week, up from $ 15 set by the company two years ago.

The initial salary scale places Costco above its competitors, including Amazon, Target and Best Buy, who have a minimum wage of $ 15. Walmart’s starting salary is $ 11 per hour.

Jelinek says higher wages would increase workers’ retention and productivity.

“I want to emphasize: this is not altruism,” Jelinek said. “At Costco, we know that paying well-paid employees and providing affordable benefits makes sense for our business and is a significant competitive advantage for us.”

Workers at Walmart and McDonald’s testified at the hearing to ask those companies to raise their minimum wage.

The federal minimum wage is currently $ 7.25.

Democrats are trying to pass a $ 1.9 billion COVID-19 aid bill, which would include a provision that would raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour for five years, a policy that Republicans oppose. strength.

The effort took a severe toll on Thursday, when the Senate MP decided that the minimum wage provision should be removed from the bill, according to Democratic Senate aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision was not published.

An increasing number of states have already raised the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour.

Costco’s announcement also comes as groups of workers demand payment for dangerous living conditions for food and other essential works, which some companies offered at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and later ended.

Costco continued to pay a $ 2 per hour premium to its March hourly workers.

Jelinek said Costco will end the premium as the one-year mark approaches, but will convert some of it through wage increases on pay scales.

Costco has 180,000 employees in the United States. Jelinek said he earns more than $ 25 an hour or more.