Walmart’s Shiny New $11 Minimum Wage Isn’t Really A Result Of The Tax Law
Read the rest at the link.In 2015, back when Barack Obama was still president and tax law was little more than a Paul Ryan fantasy, Walmart similarly announced that it had decided to raise its baseline wage to $9 per hour almost immediately, and to $10 per hour the year after that. At the time, McMillon, Walmart’s CEO, had no qualms about suggesting the broader economy was a main reason for the change. “It’s great to see the job market getting better, and the market works, so we’re adjusting to that market,” he told CNBC.In 2016, CNN cited the increasingly competitive labor market and a low unemployment rate ― which makes finding and retaining workers more difficult ― as the primary reasons Walmart was increasing wages and benefits.Those trends have not only continued through 2018, but intensified. Advocates and tax policy experts alike said on Thursday that it was shocking that the country’s largest employer hadn’t raised wages earlier.Investor’s Business Daily reported as much last October. Shortly before that, Target, one of Walmart’s largest competitors, made the decision to increase its minimum wage to $11 per hour and to $15 per hour by 2020, causing Wall Street analysts and Walmart investors to worry Walmart would try to keep up.