Apple boosts retail employees benefits as labor market tightens: report
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Amid a tight labor market that has been called the "Great Resignation", Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is trying to appeal to its retail employees to stick around by "significantly increasing" benefits such as vacation time and sick leave.
As part of the new benefits, the Apple (AAPL) is raising the number of paid sick days its Apple Store workers receive, going to 12 from 6 days, and increasing vacation time and paid parental leave, according to a Bloomberg report.
Other benefits include well as paid child or elder care, and for the first time, paid vacation for part-time employees.
The increase in benefits, available for both part-time and full-time retail employees in the U.S., is slated to start April 4.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.
The boost in benefits for its retail employees comes weeks after Apple awarded up to $180,000 in restricted stock units to some of its top engineers to keep from defecting to its competitors, including Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:FB).
On Monday, it was reported that Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) was more than doubling the base pay cap for its office workers to $350,000, up from $160,000, as it looks to keep its employees from defecting.
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the U.S. economy added 467,000 jobs in January, significantly more than the 150,000 economists were expecting. 
The unemployment rate last month ticked higher to 4%, up from 3.9% in December. Average hourly earnings came in at an annualized 9.9% gain, though that was down slightly from the 10.5% rise in December and 10.9% rise in November.

On Tuesday, Apple announced a new feature, known as Tap to Pay on iPhone, that will let merchants take payments from customers by simply tapping their iPhone with a digital wallet or contactless credit or debit card, removing the need for additional hardware.