Costco is raising his starting hourly wage to $ 16, CEO Craig Jelinek said Thursday.
“Since the beginning of Costco, the company has been committed to paying employees very competitive salaries in retail and providing them with comprehensive and affordable health benefits,” said Jelinek during a Senate Budget Committee hearing. “Two years ago, we changed our starting hourly wage to $ 15 across the United States. Starting next week, the starting wage will be $ 16.”
Jelinek said that more than half of Costco employees based in the United States receive hourly wages of more than $ 25.
Costco is the latest in a series of major retailers that have announced pay increases in recent years because of state regulation and political pressure, but have also done so to gain an advantage over competitors. Before the coronavirus pandemic strangled the economy, unemployment rates were low – driving retailers to compete for scarce talent in a tight labor market. In recent years, Amazon, Walmart and Target have gradually increased their starting salaries to $ 15 an hour, offering benefits to workers, such as tuition reimbursement programs.
Support is growing in Congress for an increase in the federal minimum wage. A $ 15 salary is included in the $ 1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill now on the table, which provides for a multi-year phase of the increase through 2025. President Joe Biden supports doubling the minimum wage federal tax of $ 7.25.
The problem has gained in popularity in recent months, as grocery workers, restaurant workers and other frontline workers continue to bear a disproportionate share of the pandemic’s difficulties. Democrats used dynamics as a lever to increase hourly wages, but bipartisan support for the move proved elusive. Sens. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Announced a proposal Tuesday that would increase the hourly wage to just $ 10 by 2025.
Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., one of the main defenders of the salary increase, denounced the Republican proposal in a tweet.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Has advocated raising the minimum wage for years.
“Why should workers subsidize some of America’s wealthiest families and largest corporations because of the starvation wages they pay their workers?” he said Thursday.
Leticia Miranda contributed.