Costco is giving a boost to thousands of U.S. employees by boosting their pay
COSTCO Chief executive Craig Jelinek shared wage increase news while addressing the Senate Budget Committee in Washington D.C.
The increase “isn’t altruism,” Jelinek said at a hearing of the Senate Budget Committee.
“At Costco, we know that paying employees good wages makes sense for our business and constitutes a significant competitive advantage for us. It helps us in the long run by minimizing turnover and maximizing employee productivity.”
He added: “We’re certainly not perfect, but we try to take care of our employees because they play such a significant role in our success.”
This change puts the company’s minimum wage higher than retail rivals like Target or Best Buy, and affects about 20 percent of the company’s 180,000 U.S. employees. The company, which employs 180,000 workers, paid $15 an hour back in 2019, and more than half of the workers are now earning $25 an hour.
Costco has also been offering employees an extra $2 per hour in hazard pay since the pandemic began last March.
Susan Saunders 2/26/21
