Walgreens announced Tuesday that it will raise starting wages to $15 an hour for all of its workers by November 2022.
The pay increases will be phased in, starting in October. They come amid a competitive labor market, marked by shortages of workers across industries.
Minimum wage is already $15 an hour in Chicago, but it is currently $11 at the state level. The minimum wage is scheduled to rise to $15 across Illinois by 2025.
About half of Walgreens workers already earn at least $15 an hour, spokesman Phil Caruso said.
The Walgreens announcement Tuesday comes about six months after Roz Brewer — the former chief operating officer at Starbucks — took over as Walgreens CEO.
“Investing in and rewarding our team members is not only the right thing to do, it’s highly important to retaining and attracting a talented workforce, and to continuing to serve our critical role in community health care,” Brewer said in a news release.
Walgreens noted in the release that it has hired 25,000 full-time and part-time pharmacy workers since the start of the pandemic. The retail pharmacy chain has administered more than 25 million vaccinations, with hundreds of locations giving the shots in Illinois.
Though the company touted the wage increase Tuesday, it follows years of mixed financial results for the retail pharmacy chain.
In July, Walgreens reported a strong third quarter, thanks partly to better foot traffic in stores after seeing many customers vanish during the early months of COVID-19. It also saw more people in its stores seeking COVID-19 vaccines.
Before COVID-19, however, Walgreens had implemented a number of cost-savings measures, as it worked to adapt to changing consumer habits and deal with pressures related to reimbursements for medications.
Walgreens has said it aims to slash costs by $2 billion a year by 2022. Walgreens also laid off more than 100 employees in its Deerfield, Ill., office in October 2019, and has closed more than 200 U.S. stores.
