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Major retail chains are raising their starting wages for hourly workers in the U.S., CNN reports.
Costco will raise its minimum wage this week to $16 for hourly workers. The company employs roughly 180,000 people in the U.S., and about 90 percent of them work hourly.
The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 and has been unchanged since 2009. In 2021, a number of cities and states moved to increase their minimum wages, CNN reports.
The $16 starting wage puts Costco ahead of retail rivals like Amazon, Target and Best Buy, which all recently announced plans to increase starting wages for hourly employees. In 2018, Amazon raised its starting wages to $15 per hour, and Target and Best Buy raised their starting wages to $15 in 2020.
Walmart has a starting wage of $11 per hour, and said last week it plans to increase pay to about $13 per hour for roughly 425,000 workers.
