Target Increases Minimum Wage of Employees

Target is the latest in a number of retail chains to announce plans to unilaterally increase the minimum wage it pays its employees.

The Star Tribune reports that Target will now begin to pay its lowest level employees $9 an hour. With the move, Target is joining major retail corporations like Wal Mart, Marshall's, and T.J. Maxx.

Target's wage increase will take place in April, which is also when Wal Mart said they would institute their new policy. Wal Mart also pledged that the minimum wage it pays its employees would increase to $10 an hour by 2016.

The decision by Target, Wal Mart and others to increase the minimum wage comes as political support for an increase in the federal minimum wage continues to grow. Respectable majorities in both the Republican and Democratic Party believe that the minimum wage should be increased.

Wal Mart has been the target of protests demanding higher wages for years because it is the largest employer in the United States.

Retailers are not the only ones who have found themselves the subject of activist ire over their low wages. Fast food corporations such as McDonald's and Burger King have also been targeted by protesters seeking an increase in the minimum wage.

Although federal action on the issue seems to be a long time coming, a number of states and municipalities have acted on their own to increase the wage. For example, Seattle, Chicago, and New York City have all increased their minimum wage in recent months.