15 Chains That Pay Well More Than Minimum Wage

President Biden is promising to begin a second legislative attempt to more than double the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $15 per hour after the first effort was shot down by the U.S. Senate.

There is heated debate about the impact such an increase would have on the economy, as the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates it could help lift 900,000 people out of poverty but would destroy 1.4 million jobs in the process, resulting in a net loss of employment for a half-million workers.

Yet there are actually a number of businesses that already pay starting wages higher than the current minimum rate. Here are 15 that already pay at least $15 per hour.

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In 2018, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced it was raising its minimum starting wage to $15 an hour for all full-time, part-time, temporary, and seasonal employees across the U.S.

The e-commerce giant also notes it provides its employees with a range of benefits including health insurance, parental leave, savings plans, and financial counseling. It also notes these benefits begin on day one of a worker's hire. Amazon has called for Congress to hike the minimum wage to $15 per hour.

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Bank of America's (NYSE: BAC) starting pay has long been above the federal minimum, and since 2010 the financial giant has steadily raised its starting pay. Over the past decade, the rate has risen by $8 per hour to $20 per hour.

Consumer electronics superstore Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) raised its starting pay to $15 per hour last August as it began bringing workers back who were furloughed due to the pandemic. It also said it would pay hourly employees an "additional cash gratitude bonus" of $500 for full-time workers and $200 for part-time employees.

However, the increased wages come with a heavy toll as Best Buy has significantly slashed its workforce at the same time. Because consumers are buying more online, the company says it has less need for retail help.

Although Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR) workers were making $16.50 per hour at the start of the year, they were due a $1.50-per-hour rate hike this month, and the cable operator announced last year it wanted to have all of its hourly employees earning $20 per hour by 2022.

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Healthcare giant Cigna (NYSE: CI) announced back in 2018 it was raising the starting pay of its workers to $16 per hour as a result of the savings it received from President Trump's tax reform changes. It also said its frontline workers would receive salary increases above that level while it also added $30 million to the company's 401(k) program, matching an additional 1% of employee compensation contributed to the program in 2018.

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Warehouse membership club Costco (NASDAQ: COST) said last month it would raise its hourly starting wage to $16. The retailer has long tried to stay a step ahead of the competition by keeping its pay higher, which it has been able to easily do as it operates far fewer stores and employs significantly fewer workers than many.

Still, CEO Craig Jelinek says many of its 180,000 employees already earn well above that level and are paid, on average, $24 per hour.

Disney (NYSE: DIS) will begin paying $15 per hour to its workers in Florida beginning October 2021, a level achieved through contract negotiations with its employees unions. California employees were already making that rate as of last year, which was three years ahead of when a state law would mandate that rate.

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Social networking giant Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) has paid its workers a $15-per-hour minimum rate since 2015, but two years ago it announced it would increase the pay level to $20 per hour in certain high-cost areas such as San Francisco, New York, and Washington, D.C., while content reviewers in those cities earn $22 per hour. Workers in the Seattle area make $18 per hour.

Regional banking leader Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) boosted its minimum wage to $18 per hour in 2019, which means it would have increased the starting pay for its employees by 50% over the preceding two years. It believes its pay hikes helped reduce employee turnover by 16% during that time period, and it noted that its commissioned employees typically earn well above that rate.

It took massive employee protests at Alphabet's (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google division for the company to agree to pay not only its regular workers $15 per hour but also its extended, nonemployee workers, too. They noted that although the outside workers often did the same jobs, they didn't receive the same pay. As part of the new policy, Google was also extending to them health insurance and parental leave benefits.

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Privately held arts and crafts retailer Hobby Lobby is something of a rarity among retailers in that it has maintained a higher minimum wage than federally mandated for years. As early as 2014, Hobby Lobby was paying its workers $15 per hour, but last September it said it would raise its workers' pay again, this time paying them $17 per hour.

It says it was one of the first retailers to establish a nationwide minimum pay rate for workers higher than called for by federal law, and it has since raised its minimum wages 10 times over the last 11 years.

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JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) is another financial institution able to afford paying higher wages than required, announcing back in 2018 that it was raising the pay of 22,000 employees from between $12 per hour and $16.50 per hour to between $15 per hour and $18 per hour in over 100 cities, with those in high-cost cities like New York, San Francisco, and Boston earning the top tier. It called the initiative "a $20 billion, five-year comprehensive investment to help its employees."

The largest supermarket chain, Kroger (NYSE: KR), has had an average starting pay of $15 per hour since 2019, and it says that if benefits such as health insurance, 401(K) retirement plans, and pensions are included, the rate is actually closer to $20 per hour.

However, Kroger has made headlines recently after certain cities enacted so-called "heroes pay" policies requiring businesses to give their workers bonuses. The supermarket chose to close down its stores in those locations, saying that because those stores were underperforming or unprofitable, their continued operation couldn't justify the higher costs the new ordinances would mandate.

Target (NYSE: TGT) first set its goal to have a $15-per-hour minimum wage back in 2017 when workers were earning $11 per hour. Last July it began paying the $15 starting rate to all U.S. hourly full-time and part-time employees at its stores, distribution centers, and corporate headquarters.

That followed Target's decision early on in the pandemic to give workers a temporary $2-per-hour boost to their then-existing wage rate, and then kept it in effect for two months longer than originally declared. The announcement of a permanent increase to $15 per hour followed soon after.

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Retail titan Walmart (NYSE: WMT) came in for derision from rivals like Kroger and Costco when it announced it was raising the pay for 425,000 employees to $15 per hour because they had been paying their workers that much for some time. Walmart, though, said the starting pay for these employees was dependent upon store location and could rise as high as $19 per share.

The retailer, of course, operates thousands of stores across the country and employs millions of workers, making its pay increases much more significant than those of its competitors.

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When companies voluntarily raise the pay of their workers, it's because they are seeing an increase in productivity that leads to increased profits. Artificially imposing wage hikes on employers could end up hurting those it attempts to help as businesses either don't hire more workers, or worse, fire those already employed.

The debate over forcibly raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour will continue in Congress and across the nation, but individuals willing to work will find a number of companies already paying elevated wage rates. Investors might also find these are good businesses to invest in, too.

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Rich Duprey has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Amazon, Costco Wholesale, Facebook, and Walt Disney and recommends the following options: long January 2022 $1920 calls on Amazon and short January 2022 $1940 calls on Amazon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.