Bank of America increased the minimum wage of its U.S. employees to $24 an hour, bringing it a step closer to its 2025 goal of giving employees a juicy $25 per hour salary.
According to CBS News, the increased wage will be implemented by the bank starting October. The bank said on Tuesday that the recent increase follows the $23 per hour rate the bank applied since September of last year.
Both full-time and part-time employees will benefit from the rate. When computed annually, an employee may bring in approximately $50,000 under the new rate.
The Hill noted that for the last seven years, the bank has been exerting effort to ensure that employees receive good salary to bring in good talent especially in a competitive job market. In the last seven years, it worked on increasing the wage from a minimum of $15 to $24 in the current year.
In May 2022, the minimum hourly wage was increased to $22, from a rate of $21 in 2021.
"Providing a competitive minimum wage is core to being a great place to work — and I am proud that Bank of America is leading by example," said the bank's chief human resource officer Sheri Bronstein.
The U.S. Census Bureau released data on Tuesday, which showed that the weighted average poverty threshold of a family of four in 2023 was at $30,900.
The federal minimum rate is $7.5 an hour, making Bank of America's hourly rate a totally attractive compensation. The bank's lowest-paid workers actually get three times more than the federal minimum, which according to CBS News, has not budged over the last 15 years.
The bank told CBS MoneyWatch that 'thousands' would be benefiting from the increased minimum wage. However, the exact number of employees who will get the higher rate was not divulged.
In 2012, labor advocates launched "Fight for $15," a campaign that sought to put pressure on employers to increase pay to a minimum of $15 an hour. Data from the Department of Labor showed that more than 30 states now require employers to provide hourly wage more than the federal minimum.
