Politics Costco to raise hourly pay to $16 as minimum wage fight brews in Congress
$15 minimum wage debate: Everything you need to know
House Democrats have included a minimum wage hike in their latest Covid relief bill, although opposition among some Senate Democrats means it is not at all clear they will have the votes to pass it. © Scott Olson/Getty Images Demonstrators participate in a protest outside of McDonald's corporate headquarters on January 15, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. Improving worker pay is unrelated in that raising the minimum wage has long been a Democratic priority.
House Democrats have included a minimum wage hike in their latest Covid relief bill, although opposition among some Senate Democrats means it is not at all clear they will have the votes to pass it. © Scott Olson/Getty Images Demonstrators participate in a protest outside of McDonald's corporate headquarters on January 15, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. Improving worker pay is unrelated in that raising the minimum wage has long been a Democratic priority. Costco is raising its starting hourly wage to $ 16 , CEO Craig Jelinek said on Thursday. "Since Costco 's inception, the company has been committed to paying employees very competitive retail wages and providing them broad and affordable health care benefits," Jelinek said during a Senate Jelinek said that more than half of Costco 's U.S.-based employees earn an hourly wage of more than . Costco is the latest among a slew of major retailers who have announced wage hikes in recent years because of state regulation and political pressure, but also to gain an edge over competitors.
This move comes as Congress debates the an hour federal minimum wage increase as part of President Joe Biden's .9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill. Beginning in March of last year, the chain instituted a an hour premium to its employees to help cushion the financial strain that the "As we approach the one-year mark of this extra pay , we will limit the temporary premium, but convert some of the premium to a permanent increase by raising each step on hourly wage scales," said Jelinek. Costco employees in the U.S. have been with the company for over nine years on average, with more
Costco is raising its starting hourly wage to $16, CEO Craig Jelinek said on Thursday.
© Provided by NBC News "Since Costco's inception, the company has been committed to paying employees very competitive retail wages and providing them broad and affordable health care benefits," Jelinek said during a Senate Budget Committee hearing. "Two years ago we moved our starting hourly wage to $15 everywhere in the U.S. Effective next week, the starting wage will go to $16."
Jelinek said that more than half of Costco's U.S.-based employees earn an hourly wage of more than $25.
Costco is the latest among a slew of major retailers who have announced wage hikes in recent years because of state regulation and political pressure, but also to gain an edge over competitors. Before the pandemic throttled the economy, unemployment rates were low — leading retailers to compete for scarce talent in a tight labor market. Over the last few years, Amazon, Walmart and Target have gradually raised their starting wages to $15 per hour while also offering workers perks like tuition reimbursement programs.
The problem with a one-size-fits-all federal minimum wage hike
Minimum wages are not a free good. They have tradeoffs. While politicians might not pay much mind to such economic arguments, they are well aware of the regional differences among their constituents. If they listen, they should reject a one-size-fits-all federal minimum wage hike and, instead, let cities and states make decisions that best suit the people in their communities.Ryan Young is a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and author of the study "Minimum Wages Have Tradeoffs. (Reuters) - Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ:COST) said on Thursday it would raise the minimum wage for its hourly staff to $ 16 per hour starting next week, a dollar more than what its competitors Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Inc, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Target Corp (NYSE:TGT) pay their staff.
Costco is boosting its minimum hourly wage to $ 16 starting next week, the warehouse retailer's chief executive said during congressional testimony. During the pandemic Costco had added an extra an hour in so called hazard pay to frontline workers’ checks, but that will end this year as the company adds a permanent pay increase, Jelinik said. The members-only discount retailer based in Issaquah, Wash. claims that its pay and benefits have resulted in lower turnover as more than 60 percent of its employees have been with the company for at least five years and more than a third have been there
The increase comes amid growing support in Congress for a federal minimum wage should hike. A $15 wage is included in the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill currently on the table, and it calls for a multi-year phase-in of the increase by 2025. President Joe Biden backs doubling the current federal minimum wage of $7.25.
The issue has gained popularity in recent months as grocery store workers, restaurant staff and other frontline employees continue to bear an outsized share of the pandemic's hardships. Democrats have used this dynamic as leverage to increase their hourly compensation, but bipartisan support for the measure has proven to be an uphill battle. Sens. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., announced a proposal on Tuesday that would raise hourly wages to just $10 by 2025.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY., denounced the proposal in a tweet: "When members of Congress fight to set the minimum wage below a living wage, they are playing a role in creating and preserving poverty in the United States. The $15/hr proposal with multi-year phase-in is already a deep compromise. $10 an hour is legislated poverty."
Committee Chair Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT., has championed increasing minimum wage for years.
"Why should working people be subsidizing some of the wealthiest families and largest corporations in America because of the starvation wages they pay their workers?" he said Thursday.
Joe Manchin's $11 Minimum Wage More Popular Than Biden's $15—Among Democrats and Republicans .
While a majority (60 percent) of voters approve of the increase to $15 per hour, 71 percent support a more modest hike to $11.President Joe Biden and Democrats campaigned on raising the federal minimum wage to $15, and House Democrats included the wage hike in their version of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. However, the wage hike looks unlikely to survive in the Senate's version of the bill, as that chamber's parliamentarian ruled it could not be passed through the budget reconciliation process. Meanwhile, GOP Senators Mitt Romney of Utah and Tom Cotton of Arkansas have put forward a proposal to raise the minimum wage to $10 per hour—close to what Manchin has suggested.
See also:
$15 minimum wage debate: Everything you need to know 
The problem with a one-size-fits-all federal minimum wage hike 
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Costco is raising its starting hourly wage to $ 16 , CEO Craig Jelinek said on Thursday. "Since Costco 's inception, the company has been committed to paying employees very competitive retail wages and providing them broad and affordable health care benefits," Jelinek said during a Senate Jelinek said that more than half of Costco 's U.S.-based employees earn an hourly wage of more than $25. Costco is the latest among a slew of major retailers who have announced wage hikes in recent years because of state regulation and political pressure, but also to gain an edge over competitors. www.nbcnews.com
Costco is raising its minimum wage to $ 16 for its hourly store workersThis move comes as Congress debates the $15 an hour federal minimum wage increase as part of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill. Beginning in March of last year, the chain instituted a $2 an hour premium to its employees to help cushion the financial strain that the "As we approach the one-year mark of this extra pay , we will limit the temporary premium, but convert some of the premium to a permanent increase by raising each step on hourly wage scales," said Jelinek. Costco employees in the U.S. have been with the company for over nine years on average, with more www.cnbc.com
Costco raises minimum wage to $ 16 per hour By Reuters(Reuters) - Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ:COST) said on Thursday it would raise the minimum wage for its hourly staff to $ 16 per hour starting next week, a dollar more than what its competitors Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Inc, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Target Corp (NYSE:TGT) pay their staff. m.investing.com
Costco to hike its minimum wage to $ 16 an hour | New York PostCostco is boosting its minimum hourly wage to $ 16 starting next week, the warehouse retailer's chief executive said during congressional testimony. During the pandemic Costco had added an extra $2 an hour in so called hazard pay to frontline workers’ checks, but that will end this year as the company adds a permanent pay increase, Jelinik said. The members-only discount retailer based in Issaquah, Wash. claims that its pay and benefits have resulted in lower turnover as more than 60 percent of its employees have been with the company for at least five years and more than a third have been there
Costco raising its minimum wage for U.S. workers to $ 16 per hourCostco Wholesale Corp. undefined Chief Executive Craig Jelinek announced Thursday that the warehouse retailer will raise the minimum wage for its U.S . "Two years ago we moved our starting hourly wage to $15 everywhere in the US, effective next week, the starting wage will go to $ 16 ," Jelinek said at a Senate hearing on minimum wage . Costco joins Signet Jewelers Ltd. SIG, +3.81%, which also announced on Thursday that it will be raising its minimum wage to $15.
Costco lifts minimum wage above Amazon or Target to $ 16 per hourOffer bare minimum wages get bare minimum effort. Raise the wages and employees might actually start to give a shit and do more than the minimum to not get fired. They pay that much because they understand that retention is cheaper than continually hiring and training new people, in the long run. I wish more employers understood this. My old employer, Dollar General, paid minimum wage . As a former manager we would hire someone, spends a couple days training them and they wouldn't last a week.
Costco is raising its minimum wagecostco worker obama. (Mike Theiler-Pool/Getty). Costco is raising its minimum wage for its workers. In the latest clear signal of the tightening labor market and rising wage pressures, Costco will start paying $13 to $13.50 per hour , up from $11.50 to $12. (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street veteran Peter Kraus said that investors shouldn’t be caught off guard by a market correction because some equities have been pushed into bubble territory, and many catalysts for expansion have already been factored in.“You’ve got to pay attention to those bubbles, and the market could easily have a consolidation of
Costco raises its minimum wage - Business InsiderCostco is raising its minimum wage from $13 to $14. The wage increase comes in the wake of the GOP's corporate tax cuts, which has encouraged companies to raise wages and even hand out bonuses to employees. Earlier this year, Walmart also announced that it would raise starting wages for its hourly employees from $9 to $11 and would offer a one-time cash bonus of up to $1,000 to other employees who are not impacted by these increases.
