Walmart says it will raise pay to at least $15 an hour for most East and West Coast staff who stock stores and fulfill online orders

<p><img src="https://static1.businessinsider.com/image/603f4f94b46d720018b04831-1960/personal-shopper-in-apparel.jpg" border="0" alt="walmart new test stores" data-mce-source="Walmart" data-mce-caption="A Walmart personal shopper using a handheld device." data-link="https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2020/10/29/in-this-new-era-of-retail-were-testing-new-ways-to-operate-and-its-the-customer-who-wins"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>Many Walmart hourly workers will collect bigger paychecks on the US east and west coast markets where the cost of living is higher and competition for labor among retailers is more intense, the company told Reuters on Tuesday.</p><p>Walmart also said it has seen a slight increase in job applications for digital and stocking roles, mostly internally.</p><p>"[This] tells us that we're becoming more competitive for this type of work," Drew Holler, Walmart's head of people operations, said.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-to-raise-pay-for-425000-frontline-workers-2021-2">Walmart</a>, the world's biggest retailer, said last month that it plans to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-to-raise-pay-for-425000-frontline-workers-2021-2">raise average pay for US hourly workers</a> to at least $15.25 an hour, focusing on digital fulfillment and stocking workers who will receive a starting wage of between $13 and $19 an hour from March 13. This comes as the company, which is also America's biggest private employer, looks to retain labor to support its fast-growing online business.</p><p>"Not everywhere in the nation is the same from a pay perspective ... Where we're competitive is on the coast," Holler said. "In the middle of the country, to be competitive, it's a little bit different."</p><p>The "majority" of Walmart's digital and stocking workers on the east and west coast will be paid a minimum of between $15 and $19 an hour, depending on their role, he said. The company previously said it is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-to-raise-pay-for-425000-frontline-workers-2021-2">raising wages for 425,000 US stocking and digital workers</a>, who fulfill local online and curbside pick-up orders.</p><p>A nationwide movement to increase the minimum wage has gathered new momentum with President Joe Biden reiterating his support for a base wage hike.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-is-raising-its-minimum-wage-to-16-per-hour-2021-2">Costco</a> said last week that it was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-is-raising-its-minimum-wage-to-16-per-hour-2021-2">raising the minimum wage</a> for its hourly staff to $16.</p><p>Walmart is often criticized for paying less than rivals including <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-raises-minimum-wage-to-15-dollars-2018-10">Amazon</a>, Kroger, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/target-raises-its-minimum-wage-to-15-dollars-an-hour-2020-6">Target</a>, which pay workers at least $15 an hour nationwide. Walmart has also taken heat for years because <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bernie-sanders-walmart-mcdonalds-food-stamps-medicaid-minimum-wage-2020-11">thousands of its workers are under the poverty line</a>.</p><p>When asked to comment on its critics,&nbsp;Walmart&nbsp;said some of its workers make as much as $30 an hour, and that its competitive edge is in benefits like training, academic opportunities, and medical and dental insurance. The company has 1.5 million associates in the United States.</p><p>Drew Board, an online pick-up worker who lives 45 minutes from Charlotte, North Carolina, received a raise and will get $1 more than the $13.15 an hour he is currently paid.</p><p>"If I was in another position,&nbsp;Walmart&nbsp;would be less attractive to me, considering that Target and Amazon are already paying $15 an hour," said Board, 23, who drives nearly an hour each day to a&nbsp;Walmart&nbsp;Supercenter in Albemarle, North Carolina, from Salisbury.</p><p>An hour in the other direction is an Amazon Sort Center that has, in the past, lured Board's colleagues away from&nbsp;Walmart.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-15-minimum-wage-increase-benefit-black-workers-2021-1" >Biden's plan for a $15 minimum wage could mean one in 5 Americans earns more. Nearly a third of Black workers would get a raise, research suggests.</a></strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-pay-minimum-wage-associate-digital-stocking-workers-retail-staff-2021-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-most-expensive-liquid-thoroughbred-horse-semen-2020-3">Why thoroughbred horse semen is the world's most expensive liquid</a></p>
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