Walmart pushes average hourly wage to $17.50

It takes a lot of workers to run a big company like Walmart. This retail giant aims to retain and retain these workers by offering higher salaries and other perks.

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In a Jan. 24 letter to U.S.-based employees, Walmart CEO John Farner said that starting next month, the company will “begin investing to raise wages for its employees. ‘ said. The effort includes regular annual pay raises and a minimum wage hike, bringing Walmart’s average U.S. hourly wage to over $17.50. The pay increase he will start from March 2, 2023.

Additionally, the minimum wage for employees at Walmart stores will increase from $12 to $14 an hour, CNBC reported, citing a Walmart spokesperson. Starting in March, employees’ hourly rates will increase from $12 to $18, and from $14 to $19.

Walmart has about 1.7 million employees in the U.S., the most of any private employer, nearly all of whom (94%) are hourly workers, CNN reports. The retailer has long faced criticism from labor groups for its low wages, but in a move by Walmart to raise wages so it can better compete with rivals such as Target, Amazon and Costco. That has changed in recent years.

As noted by CNN, dozens of companies, including Walmart, have laid off corporate staff in recent months. But the high demand for service industry workers has forced employers to offer higher wages and other benefits just to meet labor costs. About 30,000 store jobs are posted.

The latest data from the U.S. Department of Labor shows that nationwide job openings hit a historic high of 10.5 million in November. That’s a lot more than his six million people who lost their jobs that month.

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Walmart doesn’t just offer high pay for attractive workers. Here are some of the other benefits we are rolling out:

• Continued investment in Auto Care Center (ACC) employeesLast fall, Walmart created a higher-paying auto care center coach role. He is currently planning to raise salaries for ACC technical employees to reflect the special skills required for the role, as he introduces a higher-paid position to his ACC team.
• New College Degrees and Certificates for Walmart’s Live Better U (LBU) Education ProgramThe new options are designed to help employees acquire the skills they need to unlock new career opportunities. Both part-time and full-time associates can join his LBU on day one and Walmart will pay his 100% of tuition and fees.
• Expansion of the Associate-to-Driver ProgramUnder this program, Walmart will pay for supply chain employees to obtain a commercial driver’s license and become a Walmart truck driver earning up to $110,000 in the first year. This program was recently made available to Store Associates as well.

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