Home Depot Investing $1 Billion to Raise Average Starting Salary to $15 an Hour

Home Depot, one of the largest home improvement retailers in the U.S., announced Tuesday that it is investing $1 billion in its hourly workers, raising their average starting salary to $15 an hour. This move comes roughly one month after the company revised its compensation policy to pay hourly associates to the nearest minute based on workers’ precise time punches.

The pay raise is part of a larger trend among large employers in the U.S. to increase wages amid a nationwide shortage of front-line workers. This is due to the current red-hot job market, where unemployment has reached its lowest level since 1969, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Home Depot’s decision to raise its starting pay to $15 an hour is in line with other large retailers such as Amazon, who announced in September that starting pay for warehouse and delivery workers would be more than $19 an hour. The increase will benefit all hourly workers in the U.S. and Canada.

The news comes shortly after competitor Lowes announced it had allocated $55 million for “inflation adjustments” to its employees’ wages. Home Depot’s $1 billion investment in its workers is a significant step towards providing better wages and job security for its employees.