Gap Inc. Raising Minimum Wage to $10 an Hour

Gap Inc. will raise the wages for its lowest paid workers to $9 an hour this year and boost it to $10 an hour in 2015. The move will affect all of the company’s retail brands: Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta, Piperlime and Intermix.

CEO Glenn Murphy made the announcement to employees yesterday and followed it up with an explanatory web page that features a letter and a list of frequently asked questions.

“Early this morning, we notified all our employees that starting here in the U.S., Gap Inc. will make a strategic investment to do more for our employees by increasing the minimum hourly rate for our employees to $9 in 2014 and $10 in 2015. This will ultimately benefit about 65,000 store employees,” Murphy’s letter stated.

“To us, this is not a political issue. Our decision to invest in frontline employees will directly support our business, and is one that we expect to deliver a return many times over.”

The announcement prompted a statement by President Barack Obama praising the move. The President raised the minimum wage for workers under federal contract to $10.10 an hour and has advocated raising the federal minimum wage, currently at $7.25 an hour.

“In my State of the Union Address, I asked more businesses to do what they can to raise their employees’ wages,” President Obama said. “Today, I applaud Gap, Inc. for announcing that they intend to raise wages for their employees beginning this year.”

The President noted that raising the federal minimum wage across the board would take an act of Congress.