washington walmart inc said on monday it has temporarily raised entry wages for workers in its ecommerce warehouses by 2 following similar moves by rivals as it attempts to manage a shopping surge brought about by the coronavirus outbreakwalmart said the hike will increase entry wages for workers in ecommerce fulfillment centers or warehouses to between 15 and 19 an hour effective immediately through memorial day a holiday in the united states that falls on may 25 this yearthe worlds largest retailer which employs 15 million people in the united states has struggled to keep store shelves stocked and fulfill online orders amid panicbuying by shoppers spooked by the outbreak advt the virus has infected over 32000 people in the united states leading to more than 415 deaths showed a reuters tallylast week walmart said it would pay special cash bonuses totaling 550 million to hourly staff and hire 150000 temporary workers through the end of may in its stores and fulfillment centersworkers in distribution centers which primarily help stock stores start at 17 to 18 an hour the starting wage for store workers in most locations remains 11 an hour with the average wage among fulltime hourly workers at 1426rivals such as amazoncom inc and target corp have also boosted pay and gone on a hiring spree to manage a surge in orders while many clothing and mallbased retailers have been forced to shut storesamazon hiked entry wages to 17 from 15 and announced plans to hire 100000 warehouse and delivery workers in the united states on saturday it said it would raise overtime pay for associates working in its us warehousestarget said last week it would raise its minimum wage by 2 an hour for store and distribution center workers through may 2walmart officials said on thursday they had reached out to industry groups representing hotels and restaurants offering to hire staff who have recently lost their jobs due to the virusinduced slowdown in tourism and cateringon monday the company said new employees can begin work at its facilities in as little as 24 hours after being hired it is also offering new hires and current workers a 250 cash bonus for each new hire referral after 90 days from the new hires start advt on sunday the retailer said it has set up federal drivethrough coronavirus testing sites in the parking lots of two stores in illinois reuters published on mar 23 2020 at 1225 pm ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etretail app get realtime updates save your favourite