Walmart promises raises for 425,000 workers after strong holiday sales

After reporting robust holiday sales, Walmart says roughly 425,000 of its employees will receive pay increases, including store workers who gather products from store shelves for online orders for onsite pick-up or delivered to homes, according to Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner. Starting on March 13, pay for workers in those roles will increase further to $13 to $19 an hour, based on a store’s location. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said while the company supports raising the federal minimum wage, it believes increases should be paced out. The company is retaining its starting wage at $11 an hour. The company’s pandemic sales boost allowed Walmart to accelerate investment plans, executives said Thursday during an investor meeting. Walmart’s sales increased during the fourth quarter due to strong holiday shopping, with additional gains when U.S. stimulus checks arrived in January, the company said. U.S. e-commerce sales, which include online grocery orders, increased 69% from a year earlier. Walmart spent approximately $1.1 billion in the quarter on coronavirus-related expenses such as increased pay and benefits. Walmart forecast $14 billion in capital expenditures in the current fiscal year, up from about $10 billion last year. Those investments will focus on technology, supply chain, faster fulfillment, automation, and customer facing e-commerce efforts, executives said. The company also said U.S. comparable sales, or those from stores and digital channels operating for at least 12 months, rose 8.6% in the quarter ended January 29.