Apple raises retail hourly starting salary to $22 amid labor challenges

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

CNBC and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that Apple is increasing the amount it pays its retail and corporate employees as it contends with a tight labor market, unionization pushes, and high inflation levels. The starting hourly rate for retail workers is increasing from $20 to $22 per hour, though some regions will start higher.

An Apple spokesman told the Wall Street Journal that supporting and retaining the best team members in the world enables them to deliver the best, most innovative, products and services for their customers.

The increase was announced just weeks after an Apple store in Maryland became the third retail location in the US to announce plans to unionize. In an internal video, the vice president of people and retail said that he was worried about what it would mean to put another organization in the middle of the relationship.

CNBC notes that a combination of a low unemployment rate and high inflation rate in April is pushing employees to shop around. Tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon are trying to lure higher-paid workers by offering them stock awards that are less valuable when share prices fall.

Apple employees have objected to the company bringing its workers back into the office. The company has slowed its return to the office and asked employees to wear masks when away from their personal workspace because of the recent surge in COVID-19 cases.