Lowe’s is helping its workers as inflation remains near levels unseen since the early 1980s.
“In recognition of some of the cost pressures they are facing due to high inflation, we are providing an incremental $55 million in bonuses to our hourly front-line associates this quarter,” Lowe’s Chief Executive Marvin R. Ellison said on an earnings call Wednesday, according to The Washington Post.
“These associates have the most important jobs in our company, and we deeply appreciate everything they do to serve our customers to deliver a best-in-class experience.”
The home improvement retailer also is giving its workers a temporary 20 percent discount on household and cleaning items, according to Fox Business.
“We will continue to look for meaningful ways to improve our associates’ work-life balance while providing them with the tools to build a career at Lowe’s,” said Joe McFarland, the executive vice president of stores.
Lowe’s spokesman Steve Salazar said the bonuses will be paid on Sept. 9, but he would not say how much each worker will receive, according to the Post.
Lowe’s, which employs approximately 300,000 associates and has about 2,200 stores, isn’t alone in helping its employees.
Exxon Mobil, the T. Rowe Price Group and Microsoft are offering raises and bonuses, according to Nextstar Media Group.
Smaller employers are doing their part as well.
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Chris Hawkins, president of Hawkins Construction in Omaha, Nebraska, said even though he gave workers a 7 percent raise, he is giving his 340 hourly employees a pair of $1,000 bonuses this summer.
“We saw that inflation could affect the quality of living,” Hawkins said, per the Post.
“We pay well, but people have to have the quality of life they come to work to earn. [This bonus] could be the difference between a burger and a steak, or another birthday present for their child.”
The bonuses come as inflation was 8.5 percent in July, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics. Inflation hit 9.1 percent in June, the highest rate since 1981.
Mark Mathews, a vice president for the National Retail Federation, noted that although the inflation rate was higher in June than in July, it does not mean the problem is fading,
“So while there are some positive markers surrounding inflation, we are nowhere near out of the woods yet. To some extent, an easing of inflation was expected. As we move forward each month, current prices are already drawing comparisons to the inflated prices of a year ago, making it harder to maintain elevated levels of year-over-year inflation,” Mathews wrote in an NRF blog.
Joe Biden’s inflation is costing average Americans $717/month in extra spending.
All the Trump-hate from the media can’t distract us from that when it’s time to vote in November.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) August 17, 2022
Minutes of the July meeting of the Federal Reserve showed that officials expect a long battle with inflation, according to The New York Times.
“Participants concurred that the pace of policy rate increases and the extent of future policy tightening would depend on the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook and risks to the outlook,” the minutes said.
“Participants agreed that there was little evidence to date that inflation pressures were subsiding. They judged that inflation would respond to monetary policy tightening and the associated moderation in economic activity with a delay and would likely stay uncomfortably high for some time.”
