A fair wage for a day’s work has not often applied to the retail workplace. Walmart has long been the bogeyman of the dead-end retail job. But in recent years it has tried to wear a kinder, more progressive face. A few years ago it announced that it would lift its minimum wage to $11 even as the federal mandate stood at just $7.25 per hour. On Thursday it raised its own bar, boosting the average minimum for 425,000 “associates” to at least $15 per hour. The rise happens to coincide with Washington’s efforts to raise the federal minimum wage to that level. The group’s largesse came just as it announced a blowout fiscal 2020.
劳动一日的公允工资通常不适用于零售工作。长期以来，沃尔玛(Walmart)一直是没有前途的零售工作的可怕化身。但近年来，它试图换上一副更友善、更进步的面孔。几年前，它宣布将提高最低工资至每小时11美元，即使联邦规定的最低工资只有每小时7.25美元。周四，该公司提高了自己的工资标准，将42.5万名“伙伴”的平均最低工资提高至每小时至少15美元。巧的是，华盛顿方面也正在努力将联邦最低工资提高到该水平。沃尔玛的慷慨之举还恰逢它宣布2020财年营收井喷式增长。