Walmart Inc. said it would raise wages for about 425,000 of its employees after a year in which the Covid-19 pan- demic boosted its basiness and demand for workers who handle online orders.
The company reported strong holiday sales bat pre- dicted slower growth and higher spending this year. Af- ter surging last year, the com- pany’s stock fell 6% Thursday.
The country’s largest pri-vate employer said its more tangeted raises would increase pay for its hourly U.S. workers to an average above $15 an hour, wp from an avernge above $14 in Jannary 2020.
Walmart employs about L5 million hourly U.S. workers and 2.2 million people world-wide. Congress is debating whether to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour. The Biden administra- tion’s proposal, which is part of a Covid-19 stimulus relief package, seeks to increase it.
to $15 over four years. Walmart CEO Doug McMil- lon said the company supports raising the federal minimum but there are parts of the country that should be lower than others, and increases should be paced out. The com- pany is keeping its starting wage at $11 an hour.
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