Federal minimum wage lags behind, Congress should act

Walmart's general manager, Doug McMillon, said the federal minimum wage of $ 7.25 / hour in the US was "too low" and "lagging behind".

He made these comments at the kickoff of the retailer's annual meeting of shareholders in Bentonville, Arkansas, where senior Senator Bernie Sanders was present, arguing for wage increases for workers in Walmart, calling what the retailer is currently paying "a starvation wage".

"It's time for Congress to put in place a thoughtful plan to raise the minimum wage," McMillon told the audience. "Any plan should take into account phase differences and cost of living in order to avoid unintended consequences."

The largest retailer in the world, employing 1.5 million people in the United States, has recently faced increasing pressure to raise wages. The CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, in his April annual letter to shareholders, challenged other retailers, without specifying which ones, in particular, to match their wages and benefits.

Walmart's minimum wage of $ 11 / hour, set in January 2018, is still lower than Amazon's, which was raised to $ 15 in November. "Do it! Better yet, go to $ 16," says Bezos in the letter.

However, Walmart has stated that its average hourly earnings including benefits is over $ 17.50.

Walmart has also softened its benefits to include benefits such as the opportunity for employees to earn academic degrees in fields related to business and technology, paying only a dollar a day for their studies .

Sanders said Wednesday and at Walmart's head office that a minimum wage of $ 15 / hour "is not a radical idea". He pointed out that Walmart's competitors – Amazon and Target – had started setting up a payment threshold of $ 15 per hour.

Target will end up phasing in a minimum hourly wage of $ 13 this month, which should enable it to reach $ 15 by the end of 2020.

Sanders added: "The American people are tired of subsidizing the greed of some of the largest and most profitable companies in the country." Many Walmart employees rely on social housing and vouchers to get out, he said.

Walmart has a market value of about $ 298 billion and its shares rose about 1.5% Wednesday afternoon, after climbing nearly 12% since the beginning of the year. . In constant currencies, Walmart's total revenue was $ 500.9 billion for fiscal 2018 and operating income was $ 20.50 billion.