Walmart increasing its minimum wage to $14 per hour was followed by an avalanche of similar moves from other retailers. As companies of all stripes tighten their budgets, retailers are still spending big on hourly workers. Big hourly wage increases of the past three years are here to stay, and more are in the works. Kroger is the latest to join other major brands like Walmart and Target in the "labor hoarding" war. There’s a quiet war being waged among America’s largest retailers, and the winner might be the previously under-appreciated hourly worker. Slower sales growth, rising interest rates, and increased uncertainty are compelling companies of all stripes to tighten their operations and hunt for cost savings. Tech employers have shed more than 120,000 workers this year alone – per a count maintained by Layoffs.fyi – in order to boost profitability and satisfy investors, but the word coming out of retail C-suites this past earning season paints a strikingly different picture. Retail executives are saying that the substantial investment in their front-line workforce of recent years is here to stay, and that any cost savings will have to be found elsewhere. Many are even doubling down with billions of […]
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