Soon, thousands of Target employees will see a bump in their pay, since the big box retailer announced Thursday that it will raise its minimum hourly wage to $13 by June.
The current minimum hourly wage is currently $12, which was a pay hike implemented in March 2018, according to USA Today.
The Minneapolis-based retailer began its efforts to raise its hourly wages in 2017, when the starting hourly rate was $11. The company plans to raise the minimum wage to $15 by the end of 2020.
The pay raise follows the trend of retailers making efforts to improve pay and by default enhancing their employee pool. Amazon announced in October it would bump its minimum hourly wage to $15 for all U.S. employees. In early 2018, Walmart raised its start rate to $11 an hour.
The wage increase will affect "tens of thousands" of employees, a Target spokeswoman said told Reuters. The company currently runs 1,845 stores and employs more than 300,000 employees.
The $15 minimum wage movement has been boosted by Democrats, like senator and 2020 presidential nominee Elizabeth Warren, and other pay advocates.
In statement Thursday, Melissa Kremer, chief human resources officer for Target, said the minimum wage hikes were possible due to the retailer’s strong holiday performance.
“We were able to start them all (seasonal hires) at $12 or more - and that helped us reach our seasonal hiring goal ahead of schedule, which gave our teams a lot of extra time to train and prepare for our busiest season of the year,” Kremer said in a blog post.
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