Target (NYSE: TGT) said Thursday it is increasing its minimum hourly wage by a dollar to $13 in June for all current and new employees as part of its goal to hit $15 an hour by the end of 2020.
The increase represents the latest step in a series of annual increases the retailer has made since it announced in September 2017 a plan to raise its minimum starting hourly pay from $10 to $15 over three years.
Target's new $13-an-hour minimum is well above the federal minimum of $7.25, which was last increased in 2009, and all 50 states' minimum wages. (Some American cities, including Washington, New York and San Francisco, have higher wages.)
Target's rate is higher than rival Walmart's (NYSE:WMT) $11-an-hour minimum, set in January 2018, but is still below Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), which raised its hourly minimum to $15 in November.
While Target's starting wage was $3 an hour below Amazon's this past holiday season, CEO Brian Cornell credited the company's wage and career options as part of the reason it hit its seasonal holiday hiring goals ahead of schedule.
"We hired over 120,000 seasonal team members in the fourth quarter, and I know there were some questions about, could we do that, and we did," Cornell told the media last month.
The U.S. unemployment rate continues to hover at historically low levels, most recently just 3.8% in February, making competitive wages even more critical for recruiting and retaining workers.
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