Walmart employees on the coasts will be getting a raise, but those who work for Walmart in middle America might not be as lucky, according to Reuters.
Walmart pointed to increased living costs along the East and West Coast, as well as higher labor competition among retailers in these parts of the country as the impetus for the pay hikes, the retail giant told Reuters Tuesday.
Previously, Walmart announced that they would be changing their pay-scale so that those working in a “lead roll” would earn between $18 to $21 an hour. Walmart also intends to increase the average pay of its hourly workers to at least $15.25 an hour, and would increase wages for 425,000 workers who fill online and curb-side orders.
The retailer told Reuters that there has been an increase in interest for digital order fulfillment and stocking roles as of late. “(This) tells us that we’re becoming more competitive for this type of work,” Drew Holler, the company’s head of people operations, told Reuters.
As previously announced, these digital fulfillment and stocking roles will have an hourly wage that starts between $13-$19 an hour starting March 13, Reuters noted. (RELATED: Is This A Rare Case In Which Bernie Sanders, Walmart And Amazon Agree?)
Walmart sweetens pay for most U.S. hourly workers on the coasts https://t.co/XifCY6BGH0 pic.twitter.com/xz4X3TaVU0
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 2, 2021
Holler told Reuters that the “majority” of these workers located on the East and West Coast will be over $15 an hour.
“If I was in another position, Walmart would be less attractive to me, considering that Target and Amazon are already paying $15 an hour,” 23-year-old North Carolina Walmart employee Drew Board told Reuters. Board recently received a $1 hourly wage increase, according to Reuters.
It remains to be seen how American’s working for Walmart between the coasts will be impacted by the new policies.