Target’s minimum wage is set to hit $15 an hour by 2020.
Target is increasing its minimum wage to $13 in June for all employees.
In September 2017, Target announced a plan to raise its minimum starting hourly pay from $10 to $15 over three years.
The federal minimum wage is $7.25, but several corporations have committed to significant increases. Walmart set its minimum at $11 an hour in January 2018, and Amazon’s is $15 an hour as of November.
Most states have also increased their minimum wage to above the current federal minimum, and many localities have adopted minimum wages above their state minimum wage. But no state minimums are as high as $15 an hour — yet.
Maryland is the latest of a small number of states to pass bills that will increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour within the next few years: California will reach $15 an hour in 2022, Massachusetts in 2023, New Jersey in 2024 and Illinois in 2025.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan opposed the bill, saying the measure would hurt Maryland’s competitiveness and push small businesses out of the state.
“Small businesses faced with the choice between a $7.25 wage in Virginia or $15 in Maryland will be forced to create jobs in the lower cost location and possibly reduce jobs or eliminate operations in Maryland,” he said. “Making Maryland’s minimum wage more than double that of Virginia could be too much for our economy to bear. How can we place Maryland’s workers at risk and Maryland businesses at so much of a disadvantage?”
But Target CEO Brian Cornell credited the wage and career options as part of the reason the company hit its seasonal holiday hiring goals ahead of schedule.
“We hired over 120,000 seasonal team members in the fourth quarter, and I know there were some questions about, could we do that, and we did, ” Cornell told CNBC. “I think that investment we made in wages had made us an employer of choice, so we are seeing a great reaction to our offering, we’re getting a great response from team members. They recognize we’re investing in their futures.”
