Arts and crafts retailer Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. announced that it is raising the minimum full-time hourly wage to $17, effective October 1.
The company, which currently operates 923 retail stores stocked with over 80,000 arts, crafts, hobbies, home accent, seasonal, and custom framing products, said earlier, it had raised the full-time minimum hourly wage to $15 in 2014, “well before it became fashionable with other retailers.”
According to the retailer, it was one of the first retailers to establish a nationwide minimum hourly wage in 2009, well above the federal minimum wage. Since then, the company raised its minimum wages ten times over the last eleven years.
Hobby Lobby also provides benefits including medical, prescription, and dental plan, 401(k) contributions, long-term disability benefits, life insurance, holiday pay, chaplain services, and an employee discount.
Amazon.com, Inc. recently announced its plan to hire an additional 100,000 regular full-time and part-time employees, offering a starting wage of at least $15 per hour. In March, following the surge in demand due to Covid-19 outbreak, the company had said it would pay an additional $2 per hour.
Walmart Inc. earlier temporarily raised minimum wages for workers in e-commerce fulfillment centers or warehouses. Depending on location, workers at distribution centers were to get entry wages starting between $17 and $18 per hour, while employees at fulfillment centers were to receive anywhere between $15 and $19 per hour.
Target is another retailer, which raised the minimum wage for all of its U.S. hourly employees to $15 per hour in July this year.
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