Walmart announced its intention last week to increase the hourly wage of its workers by $1, with more than 565,000 employees nationwide set to benefit from this raise.
This move comes as retailers across the US gear up for the holiday season, when sales hit their peak and the demand for workers experiences an upward trend.
In order to cater to exceedingly high customer demand, large numbers of retailers have resorted to hiring tens of thousands of temporary workers as a means of boosting their workforces.
Greg Portell, lead partner in the global consumer practice of consultancy Kearney, reflected on the challenge that retailers face in order to equip themselves to meet an uptick in demand: “The biggest challenge for retailers going into the holiday season is going to be how do they get the sales associates and the warehouse workers in position to fulfill demand.”
This is Walmart’s third wage increase within a year, raising the company’s average hourly wage to $16.40. This is just shy of $2 more than the $14.87 mean hourly wage for retail salespeople, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
