It’s been a busy first month of the year for mega retailer Walmart with news of store closings and a move to increase its minimum wage,
January 22, 2016
It's been a busy first month of the year for mega retailer Walmart with news of store closings and now a move to increase its minimum wage, which represents a pay raise for 1.2 million workers.
Neither move is connected to the other and the salary boost was actually announced last year. Average hourly pay will be $13.38 for fulltimers and $10.58 for part time employees. Only the newest hired will start at a rate under $10 an hour, according to the Huffington Post.
The pay raise is being done to increase employee performance levels and boost morale.
Last week the world'd biggest retailer announced it would close more than 269 stores worldwide, and 154 are in the U.S.
"Actively managing our portfolio of assets is essential to maintaining a healthy business," said Doug McMillon, president and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores, in a company statement. "Closing stores is never an easy decision, but it is necessary to keep the company strong and positioned for the future. It's important to remember that we'll open well more than 300 stores around the world next year. So we are committed to growing, but we are being disciplined about it."
Walmart states in the announcement it plans to open up to 60 supercenters and 95 neighborhood markets in fiscal year 2017. There are also seven to 10 new Sam’s Club (the Walmart retail warehouse) on the expansion board.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, which cites Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. retail workers earned an average of $14.95 an hour as of December 2015.
