IKEA, Macy’s To Raise Minimum Wage, Benefits In Bid To Attract Workers
More retailers are raising their minimum wages as both Macy’s (M) and IKEA announced that they will bump the hourly rate of their workers in addition to offering more benefits as the companies look to attract employees in a tightening labor market.
Macy’s and IKEA join Target, Amazon, Costco, Walmart, and other retailers that have recently increased their workers’ minimum wage.
Target and Amazon bumped their employees’ minimum wages to $15, while Walmart increased the wages of 565,000 U.S. workers in September by at least $1 an hour. Depending on the position, the starting wage at Walmart is between $12 and $17 an hour.
Macy’s will increase its minimum wage to $15 per hour in May 2022. The department store retailer said with the wage increase, the average base pay for workers will be above $17 per hour, and the average total pay will be $20 per hour.
The wage increase has already been phased in across several markets and for all distribution center workers, Macy’s said.
Along with the wage increase, Macy’s will also begin offering a debt-free education program to workers, where it will cover 100% of tuition, books, and fees for “high school completion, college prep, English language learning, associate and bachelor’s degrees, bootcamps, and professional certificates within Macy’s debt-free network.”
Macy’s said the program will start in February 2022 as part of a $35 million investment over the next four years in a partnership with Guild Education.
In addition, Macy’s said it will give employees one additional paid holiday as a flexible well-being day and provide expanded flexibility to take a day off on a holiday that is most important to them.
The new incentives are part of the company’s “ongoing commitment to attract and retain talent critical to its continued growth.”
IKEA is also increasing its workers' wages, bumping pay to $16 per hour for U.S. employees. The retailer said some hourly wages will also start at $17 or $18 per hour, depending on location.
The wage increases will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2022, for full-time, part-time, temporary, and seasonal workers, bringing the average wage of a U.S. IKEA worker to $20 per hour, the company said.
IKEA has also increased its benefits to now offer five weeks of paid time off for all workers.
As of Tuesday at 10:40 a.m. EST, shares of Macy's were trading at $30.48, down 38 cents, or 1.22%.
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