Target on Thursday raised the minimum wage of all their employees from $12 to $13 an hour. The raise will kick in in June and is part of the company's pledge to raise their minimum wage to $15 by the end of 2020, the retailer said in a statement. ADVERTISEMENT The Minneapolis-based company in 2017 announced its plan to reach a $15 base wage and has been incrementally boosting it since. Target's Chief Human Resources Officer Melissa Kremer explained in a statement that investing in their staff helps the company. "It takes a diverse, high-performing and engaged team to create experiences that make guests feel welcome and inspired, and keep them coming back," Kremer said. "So investing in our team members is essential to keep our business growing and thriving." The raise comes as nationwide unemployment remains low, which is pressuring employers to increase wages to attract and keep qualified staff. Despite companies like Target and Amazon, and states, including New Jersey and Illinois, taking concrete steps toward a $15 minimum wage, the federal minimum has remained at $7.25 an hour since 2009. Congressional Democrats rolled out a plan earlier this year seeking to more than double the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2024.<doc-sep>Anne D'Innocenzio The Associated Press Target is raising the minimum hourly wage for its workers for the third time in less than two years. The discounter said Thursday it plans to raise the hourly starting wage to $13 from $12 in June. The Minneapolis-based retailer announced in 2017 a plan to raise its starting hourly wages for workers to $15 by the end of 2020 and raised its starting hourly wage to $11. In March 2018, it boosted hourly wages to $12 after seeing a bigger and better pool of candidates. Can you afford to buy a house? :As pricey homes hit market, median list price for a house reaches record $300,000 With unemployment near rock bottom, retailers are under pressure to find qualified workers. In October, Amazon announced a minimum hourly wage of $15 for its U.S. employees. Walmart raised its starting pay to $11 an hour in early 2018.<doc-sep>Target's new $13 an hour minimum is well above the federal minimum of $7.25, which was last increased in 2009, and all 50 states' minimum wages. (Some cities, including Washington, New York and San Francisco, have higher wages.) It is the latest step in a series of annual increases it has made since it announced in September 2017 a plan to raise its minimum starting hourly pay from $10 to $15 over three years . Target said Thursday it is increasing its minimum hourly wage by a dollar to $13 in June for all current and new employees as part of its goal to hit $15 an hour by the end of 2020. "We'll continue to invest in learning and development resources for our existing team members to help them grow their careers," Chief Human Resources Officer Melissa Kremer said in a post on Target's Bullseye View blog. While Target's starting wage was $3 an hour below Amazon's this past holiday season, CEO Brian Cornell credited the company's wage and career options as part of the reason it hit its seasonal holiday hiring goals ahead of schedule. "We hired over 120,000 seasonal team members in the fourth quarter, and I know there were some questions about, could we do that, and we did," Cornell said in an interview with CNBC last month. "I think that investment we made in wages had made us an employer of choice, so we are seeing a great reaction to our offering, we're getting a great response from team members. They recognize we're investing in their futures." The U.S. unemployment rate continues to hover at historically low levels, most recently just 3.8 percent in February, making competitive wages even more critical for recruiting and retaining workers. Retailers and logistics companies, including Target, Walmart, Macy's, UPS and FedEx, are also expanding career development and training programs as well as other benefits like parental leave, to attract candidates and lower turnover. During the most recent holiday season, retailers got even more creative, offering things like giveaways like $5,000 vacations, charity donations and gift cards.<doc-sep>Target will raise its minimum wage to $13 an hour in June, from $12 currently, increasing its payroll costs and putting new pressure on rival Walmart to attract retail workers in a tight labor market. Minneapolis-based Target employs over 300,000 workers and runs 1,845 stores in the United States. It is investing billions of dollars to improve its supply chain, grow its online sales and improve delivery of merchandise to shoppers' homes. Target previously raised minimum hourly pay to $12 in March 2018 from $11. In 2017, Target, said it was committed to raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020. The wage increase will affect "tens of thousands" of employees, a Target spokeswoman said. Retailers have been finding it tougher to attract workers, with unemployment at its lowest level in nearly 50 years, while there has been growing political pressure on companies to pay workers a fair living wage. Walmart, the world's largest retailer and the largest private sector employer, pays workers $11 an hour at entry-level. Walmart did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Amazon raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour in October after facing harsh criticism over poor pay and working conditions. The online retailer said at the time that it would lobby Washington for the federal minimum wage to be raised. Costco raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour. In a blog post due to be published on Target's website on Thursday, the company's Chief Human Resources Officer Melissa Kremer tied the minimum wage hikes to the company's strong holiday performance, saying it "made a big difference." In March, Target forecast 2019 profit above Wall Street estimates after a strong holiday season. "We were able to start them all (seasonal hires) at $12 or more — and that helped us reach our seasonal hiring goal ahead of schedule, which gave our teams a lot of extra time to train and prepare for our busiest season of the year," Kremer said. It was not immediately clear if Target employees who already make $13 an hour will also see an increase in pay. Target's spokeswoman said the company would evaluate hourly pay rates for such employees and make adjustments as appropriate. With some of Target's previous wage hikes, such employees have been entitled to an annual merit raise and a pay-grade hike.<doc-sep>
Target is boosting its minimum starting wage for the third time in as many years, distancing itself from rival Walmart in a tight labor market. The cheap-chic retailer will move to $13 an hour in June, providing tens of thousands of workers a raise, the company said, without specifying exactly how many staffers would benefit. This follows $1-an-hour increases in recent years and brings Target closer to the goal it set in 2017 of reaching $15 an hour by the end of next year. "Investing in our team members is essential to keep our business growing and thriving," Target Chief Human Resources Officer Melissa Kremer said in a company blog post. The move is the latest salvo in an ongoing wage war between the nation's biggest retailers. The industry is the largest private-sector employer in the U.S., and competition for staff has intensified. Walmart has also boosted wages several times in recent years to reach its current starting salary of $11 per hour, and has also expanded benefits like maternity and parental leave. Costco, which often leads the retail pack on pay, just boosted its starting wage to as much as $15.50 an hour, while Amazon.com moved to $15 last year. While the job market remains tight, there are signs of slack that could come back to haunt Target and others. The unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent in February, but U.S. companies added the fewest workers in March since late 2017, according to data from the ADP Research Institute. The downshift in hiring is the result of slowing economic growth and the waning effect of tax cuts, which Walmart and others used to help fund last year’s wage hikes. With that benefit gone, rising labor and transportation costs could crimp retailers’ performance this year, analysts have warned.