Despite an industry shakeout that’s been dubbed the retail apocalypse, store workers who have hung in there are seeing better pay than a generation ago, even with inflation.
Minimum wage increases by states and across major chains, like Walmart and Target, coupled with a tight labor market, have jump-started the income gains. Average hourly earnings for 13.4 million non-supervisory retail workers surged 5.1 percent last year for the biggest advance since 1981, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And they’ve kept rising, hitting $16.65 an hour in July. When adjusted for inflation, that’s the highest level since December 2003.
But it’s important to remember that while retail workers are getting paid more, there are fewer of them. The industry’s payrolls peaked… Press Herald