COLUMBUS, Ohio — Costco is raising its hourly wage for store workers for the second time this year.
In February, the company raised hourly wages to $16. This week, Costco said the minimum wage would increase to $17.
Costco has roughly 180,000 employees in the United States with 90% of those working hourly. The company has one of the lowest turnover rates in the retail industry.
The increase puts the chain about $2 an hour above Amazon, Target and other top retailers and $5 more than Walmart.
Several large companies have increased wages recently as they compete for employees.
In recent years, Amazon, Target and others have raised their starting wages to $15 an hour.
Walmart raised its minimum wage from $11 to $12 last month. CVS and Walgreens announced in August they would increase to $15 an hour starting pay.
