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An employee arranges the sale of Apple Inc. AirPods at a Costco Wholesale Corp store. in San Francisco, California.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Costco is raising its hourly minimum wage to $ 16, which puts its starting wage above several of its competitors such as Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy.
“Two years ago, we moved our starting hourly wage to $ 15 across the United States. Starting next week, the starting salary will drop to $ 16, ”Costco CEO Craig Jelinek said at a Senate Budget Committee hearing Thursday.
The retailer has more than 180,000 employees in the United States and 275,000 employees worldwide.
The move comes as Congress debates raising the federal minimum wage by $ 15 an hour as part of President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill.
Target and Amazon both pay hourly workers a minimum of $ 15 an hour. Walmart’s minimum wage starts at $ 11 an hour, but it recently announced increases for 425,000 employees that will raise the retailer’s average wage to over $ 15 an hour. Walmart is the country’s largest employer.
Beginning in March of last year, the chain instituted a $ 2 an hour bonus for its employees to help cushion the financial strain the pandemic has placed on many people.
“As we approach the one-year mark of this additional pay, we will limit the temporary bonus, but convert a portion of the bonus to a permanent increase by increasing each step on the hourly pay scales,” Jelinek said.
Costco employees in the United States have worked for the company for more than nine years on average, with more than 60% of its employees averaging five or more years 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 on its decision.
Correction: The hearing took place on Thursday. An earlier version of this story misstated the date.
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