Amid the current labor crisis, Costco and Starbucks have both announced that they will raise their minimum wage for their employees, according to reports.
Costco announced that it would jump its minimum wage from $16 to $17 starting on Monday, CNN reported.
The grocery chain employs 180,000 U.S. workers, and 90% of them work for an hourly rate and will see the bump in pay.
Compared to others in the retail industry, Costco is now $2 above the starting rates of Amazon and Target, and it is $5 above Walmart.
"These increases are part of Costco's continuing efforts to ensure our hourly wages remain extremely competitive in the retail industry," Costco CEO Craig Jelinek said in a memo to employees.
As for the coffee giant, Starbucks announced that, on average, all of its employees will make $17 an hour by next summer, with workers earning at least $15 an hour, depending on location.
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Depending on market and tenure, some baristas will make as much as $23 an hour, USA Today reported. The company also announced that starting in January 2022, employees with two or more years of service could receive up to a 5% raise.
The company said that those with five or more years of experience could receive up to a 10% raise.
Starbucks also announced that it estimates the increases will total "approximately $1 billion in incremental investments in annual wages and benefits over the last two years."
Overall the labor force has been hit hard by the pandemic as workers look for better conditions and better pay from their employers. The move from Costco and Starbucks are some of the first to retain employees.
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