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Walmart plans to raise hourly wages for about 565,000 workers in departments such as food and general merchandise starting Sept. 25, the New York Times reports.
Why it matters: Walmart, who employs 1.6 million people in the U.S., will raise the average wage to $16.40, but its minimum wage of $11 an hour falls behind other large retailers such as Amazon and Target.
The big picture: The pay raise comes as employers in the retail, food service and hospitality industry experienced a labor shortage during the pandemic.
- This year “has been another trying year, with challenges that few could have predicted,” Walmart’s head of U.S. operations, John Furner, said to employees on Thursday, per the NYT.
- In February, Walmart raised wages for approximately 425,000 employees to somewhere between $13 to $19.