(Reuters) - Bank of America has raised its minimum hourly wage to $25 per hour across the United States, the lender said on Wednesday, fulfilling its 2021 pledge.
The second-largest U.S. bank has increased its minimum hourly pay by nearly 67% since 2018. The company was most recently paying a minimum wage of $24 per hour.
With the latest increase, the minimum annualized salary for full-time BofA employees in the United States will exceed $50,000, the bank said.
The move comes at a challenging time for
the U.S. labor market, with meager job gains and rising unemployment posing risks to consumer spending as companies hold off hiring due to economic uncertainty.
A Bank of America Institute survey found lower-income households were being impacted the most by labor market weakness, with their after-tax wages and salaries rising in August at the slowest pace since 2016.
The higher starting salary supports employees in developing long-term careers at the company, said Sheri Bronstein, BofA's chief people officer.
The increase will take effect in early October and apply to all full-time and part-time hourly U.S. positions.
Separately, BofA plans to add 10,000 more individuals with military background and another 8,000 from community colleges over the next five years.
It said it will also add 700 financial center roles in emerging U.S. markets.
(Reporting by Ateev Bhandari and Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi and Sahal Muhammed)
