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Wal-Mart to Give Half-Million Workers Pay Raises

The move by one of the country's largest employers ensures hourly associates earn at least $1.75 above today's federal minimum wage.
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/ Source: CNBC.com

Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, will give a half million employees pay raises, the company said Thursday.

The move by one of the country's largest employers ensures hourly associates earn at least $1.75 above today's federal minimum wage, or $9 per hour, in April. By Feb. 1, 2016, current associates will earn at least $10 per hour. Some states already have a minimum wage at or above $9 per hour, including California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Rhode Island.

"I think it actually is good news," Paul Trussell, Deutsche Bank analyst said about the wage move. "Frankly part of Wal-Mart's problem has been concerns around inventories being out of stock, been about bad customer service, long lines at the checkout counters. There's been a lot of disgruntled workers, and frankly this does sound like the new CEO both of the U.S. Wal-Mart team and Doug McMillon at the helm taking a step to perhaps correct those past evils."

The retailer also delivered a quarterly report that beat earnings estimates but missed on revenue.

It reported adjusted earnings of $1.61 per share, compared to $1.60 a share last year. Revenue rose to $131.57 billion from $129.71 billion a year ago. Analysts forecast Wal-Mart would report earnings of $1.53 per share on revenue of $132.36 billion, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

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