It's certainly a good time to be a Costco employee!  This week, the warehouse superstore is set to raise its minimum wage to $16 an hour.

Effective with this minimum wage increase, Costco wages would officially surpass its closest competitors including Target, Best Buy, and Amazon.

USA Today reports that Costco CEO Craig Jelinek made this exciting announcement at the "U.S. Senate Budget Committee hearing on worker wages at large companies."  Jelinek explains to the U.S. Senate Budget Committee:

Since Costco's inception, the company has been committed to paying the employees very competitive retail wages and providing them broad and affordable health care benefits. Two years ago, we moved our starting hourly wage to $15 everywhere in the U.S. Effective next week, the starting wage will go to $16.

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Believe it or not, Costco has reportedly been paying most of its 180,000 workers at a higher rate.  CEO Craig Jelinek states that the average wage for hourly workers is around $24 per hour.  The amount of vacation time and bonuses are also great incentives for a healthy work environment.  "We try to take care of our employees because they play such a significant role in our success," says Jelinek.

Some other major companies have also been increasing their employees' salaries. Walmart, for example, just announced a pay increase for the 425,000 Walmart employees effective Saturday, March 13th.  Hobby Lobby even increased wages for its employees last October.

Store and warehouse workers have been truly essential during this challenging year.  We cannot thank them enough for going to work and supplying us with our goods!

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