Dive Brief:

• Costco has consistently been seen as a leader among the large bulk retail employers for treating employees well, especially concerning compensation. Last week, the Seattle-based company decided it was time to raise entry-level wages for the first time in nine years, according to the Washington Post.
• The company's average hourly wage employees hovers around $20 an hour, much higher than employers such as Target and Walmart ($10 to $13 is their average range), the Post reports.
• Costco's employer trademark is how it seeks to attract "better-than-average" employees by keeping wages and benefits considerably high. So CEO Robert Galanti told investors last week that the company was raising its top pay to $22.50 an hour and it's floor to $13 an hour, according to the Post.

Dive Insight:

Galanti said Costco has always wanted to be "a premium organization at all levels." He added that working the Costco floor is often physically challenging, especially at the entry level jobs involving heavy lifting and pushing carts, "and so we thought it was time to do it," he said about raising hourly rates.

Galanti no doubt pays close attention to retail wages, which crashed during the recession and the post-recession recovery, the Post reports. But today, more states and cities are making moves to boost their minimum wage rates, meaning that more retailers may need to pay attention to this trend.