Jeff Bezos challenges retail rivals to surpass the Amazon's $ 15 minimum wage
In its annual letter to shareholders, Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos throws a message to the company's retail competitors and encourages them to start a price war on the minimum wage they pay their employees. Amazon moved to a $ 15 minimum wage in the US at the end of last year – even if it did with cuts in benefits and equity contributions that meant some employees would end up being paid less, which then led Amazon to announce a further increase in pay to rectify the situation. In a country with a federal minimum hourly wage of $ 7.25, Amazon's actions can be considered progressive.
"Today, I challenge our best retailers (you know who you are!) To match our employees' benefits and our $ 1[ads1]5 minimum wage," says Bezos. Even better, go to $ 16 and throw the giant back at us. It is a form of competition that will benefit everyone. "
In June this year, Target plans to halt its minimum hourly wage at $ 13 per hour (from today's $ 12 per hour), before a move to $ 15 per hour by the end of 2020. Walmart's minimum wage is $ 11 per hour Costco, referring to a boost in sales, announced a $ 15 per hour move in March, all of which are increasingly driven by a highly competitive labor market, while US unemployment is now at 3.8
With workers more difficult to find and keep, all dealers need to spend more on employees, and Walmart is particularly sensitive to it, given the huge overhead associated with outlets, and employing more than 1.5 million people in the US And over 2.2 million worldwide, Amazon's wage increase last year, on the other hand, has distributed 350,000 employees, the difference in the size of the workforce and overheads is part of the reason why Amazon can be more aggressive with wage increases.
in Bezos & # 39; challenge today is that he wins whatever. If others go to $ 15 per hour, he can claim that Amazon pushed them to it; If they go beyond that number, it means that the Amazon employees are suddenly cheaper than their competitor; And if no other budgets, Amazon claims the moral high ground associated with having a higher minimum wage than its rivals. Don't worry about which working conditions on the Amazon store might be.