Costco will raise its minimum wage to $16 an hour, the company’s CEO said.
CEO Craig Jelinek announced the decision in a meeting with lawmakers Thursday at 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 Thursday.
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Walmart also announced major changes to employee wage increases on Feb. 18, saying the company would raise wages for about 425,000 employees to an increase between $13 and $19 an hour.
Congress is debating whether to raise the federal minimum wage limit to $15 an hour. The measure could be included in President Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic relief bill, pending the Senate parliamentarian’s decision on the matter.
Biden supports a federal measure to increase the minimum wage, though a recent statement from White House chief of staff Ron Klain suggested the administration would not attempt to overrule the Senate parliamentarian if she decides to remove the wage increase from the spending bill.
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The latest announcement of wage raises from stores such as Costco and Walmart also likely seek competitive advantages between their online retail counterpart Amazon, which increased its minimum wage for employees to $15 an hour in 2018.
