ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Apple is raising its starting pay for hourly U.S. workers to $22 an hour or higher based on the market, reports the Wall Street Journal. That’s a 45% increase in pay since 2018, and starting salaries in the U.S. are also expected to increase. Apple told its workers in an email that it is increasing its overall compensation budget.
“Supporting and retaining the best team members in the world enables us to deliver the best, most innovative, products and services for our customers,” an Apple spokesman said in a statement. “This year as part of our annual performance review process, we’re increasing our overall compensation budget.”
The increase in pay would take effect in early July, the Journal reported, and that the increase in Apple’s compensation budget would be in addition to pay increases and special awards already received within the past year.
U.S. companies are fighting to keep retail workers. Microsoft announced this month that it is nearly doubling its global budget for merit-based salary raises. Target set a new wage range, with some hourly employees receiving up to $24 an hour. Starbucks announced last year that it will increase its wages at least twice this year, which would bring its starting pay to $15 an hour by this summer and its average pay to $17. Amazon Flex drivers make between $18 and $25 an hour.
U.S. employers spent 4.5% more on worker costs in the first three months of the year, the fastest rise since 2001 and exceeding the fourth quarter’s 4% annual growth. However, when those numbers are adjusted for inflation, private-sector wages and salaries fell during the period.
“The real thing to focus on today is inflation,” ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson told CNBC. “What inflation does is it erodes the value of that paycheck. ... People are getting more take-home pay; it’s just not going as far as it used to.”
Richardson said that companies must focus on boosting worker flexibility and security, as the ADP survey showed that workers want flexibility over their time and more autonomy in their work.
“Our data shows that workers are willing to take pay cuts to get that kind of flexibility,” Richardson told CNBC.
NACS is hosting a series of three webinars this summer that discuss innovative ways to address the labor shortage facing the convenience retailing industry. One webinar next month will be on how convenience retailers can implement flexible and innovative scheduling tactics into their operations.
Convenience retailers also can access the Good Jobs Calculator, designed exclusively for NACS and the convenience industry. This tool allows retailers to use their own data and customized assumptions about the amount of improvement or uplift achievable, and executives can run scenarios on the bottom-line impact of a Good Jobs system.
Look for “Understanding Your Local Labor Landscape” in the December issue of NACS Magazine for tips on building an effective employee value proposition and how to gain an edge when competing for candidates.