Home Depot raises starting pay to $15 an hour
Home Depot said it is raising starting pay for employees to $15 an hour, effective this month.
The DIY-focused home improvement chain made the announcement Tuesday as part of a $1 billion investment in pay raises for workers across its 2,000 U.S. stores and 182 Canadian stores.
The decision comes roughly one month after Home Depot revised its compensation policy to pay hourly associates to the nearest minute based on workers' precise time punches — a move that was largely welcomed by the company's employees.
Large retailers have boosted workers' wages amid a red-hot U.S. job market, where unemployment has reached its lowest level since 1969, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. In August, home improvement competitor Lowes announced it had allocated $55 million for "inflation bonuses" for its hourly employees. Last month, Walmart raised its minimum hourly wage to $14 across its more than 4,000 U.S. stores.
Home Depot employs more than 400,000 employees, many of whom collect hourly wages.
"This investment will help us attract and retain the best talent into our pipeline," Home Depot's President, Chairman and CEO Ted Decker wrote in an email to employees.
Pay raises could also stave off unionization campaigns, which have become increasingly popular at big retailers amid a tight job market and surging inflation. Home Depot workers in Philadelphia attempted to unionize last September, arguing they weren't profiting from the store's strong pandemic-driven sales. But workers at the Philadelphia store shot down the proposal in November in an election workers said was dogged by managers' surveillance and coercion.
Home Depot posted huge sales numbers during the pandemic as millions of workers stuck at home either renovated the space where they lived, or found more spacious accommodations. All of that put the world's largest home improvement retailer in high demand with shoppers and Wall Street investors.
Home Depot posted mixed numbers for its fourth-quarter earnings, which it reported on Tuesday. The company had a profit of $3.36 billion, or $3.30 per share, which is 3 cents better than Wall Street had expected during the final quarter of 2022, according to a survey of analysts by Zacks Investment Research. However, it missed on revenue, posting sales of $35.83 billion for the quarter.
The retailer also projected a tepid outlook for the coming year, with elevated inflation and a housing boom that's rapidly cooling in the face of rising mortgage rates. Home Depot's shares sank in Tuesday morning trading, falling nearly 5%.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.