Bank of America announced it would raise its minimum wage to $21 as businesses across the country continue to experience labor shortages.
The move from the second-largest bank follows an earlier announcement from May when it vowed to pay its employees $25 per hour by 2025 and required all U.S. vendors to pay employees at least $15 per hour or more.
“Our company’s focus on Responsible Growth requires that we provide a great place to work,” said Sheri Bronstein, chief human resources officer with Bank of America, in the company’s press release.
Bronstein said the move marks “another step forward” as the company continues to increase the minimum wage for its employees and show its commitment to improving the workplace.
NEBRASKA CHAMBER: WORKER SHORTAGE INCREASES WORKER PAY, NO NEED FOR GOVERNMENT-IMPOSED MINIMUM
The $21 minimum wage increase follows the company’s 2019 goal to raise its starting wage to $20 by 2021 — which was met one year ahead of schedule. Bank of America went from having a $15 minimum wage in 2017, $17 in 2019, to $20 in 2020, according to the press release.
The Biden administration has been a vocal advocate for raising the minimum wage to $15, a move President Joe Biden followed through with on April 27 when he signed an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay their workers a $15 minimum wage. Federal contractors were given a deadline of Jan. 30, 2022, to put the $15 minimum wage into contracts, followed by a deadline of March 30, 2022, to apply the new wage to the contracts.
Multiple states such as Colorado, California, Washington, and Massachusetts have already begun raising the minimum wage. Colorado announced in late September it was preparing to raise its minimum wage to $12.56 by January, while California has a minimum wage of $14 per hour. Washington state has a minimum wage of $13.69, and Massachusetts offers $13.50.
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Companies have continued to cite labor shortages related to the pandemic, even as federal unemployment benefits ended about a month ago. The U.S. economy added 194,000 jobs in September, according to data released from the Department of Labor, marking the second month in a row of low job growth.
Following the release of the disappointing jobs report, Biden tried to put a positive spin on the data, focusing on a lower unemployment rate at 4.8%, compared to 5.2% in August.
