MINNEAPOLIS – Big box retailer Target is looking to press forward with further minimum wage hikes in all of its stores across the United States.
Target announced in a press release Monday that it will soon begin working towards implementing a $15 an hour minimum wage by the end of 2020. Currently stores have a $10 minimum wage, and Target is hoping to see that increase to $11 an hour by as soon as this October.
“Target has always offered market competitive wages to our team members,” Target CEO Brian Cornell said in the press release. “With this latest commitment, we’ll be providing even more meaningful pay, as well as the tools, training and support our team needs to build their skills, develop professionally and offer the service and expertise that set Target apart.”
These pay increases will also apply to the more than 100,000 people Target will be bringing on as part of a hiring rush to cope with the holiday shopping season.
The last minimum wage change Target made was in 2016 when the rate was hiked to $10 an hour.
While this decision is certain to carry much less controversy, a $15 an hour minimum wage, is another major change by Target that aligns with left leaning advocacy groups’ goals. The first was the implementation of a bathroom policy which allowed people identifying as transgender to use the bathroom of the gender that they identify as, rather than the one of their biological sex.
That was on April 19, 2016, when Target’s stock price closed at $83.98 per share, an all time high for the company. From there Target’s stock price fell dramatically. On July 11, the price closed at $50.18, the lowest mark the company has recorded since January 27, 2012. Recent increases in sales during the second quarter of this year have seen numbers rebound somewhat, and the stock price opened at $58 on Monday.
