Bank Secretary Steven Mnuchin applauded Walmart Thursday for raising its starting hourly wage to $11 and be reducing bonuses to some employees, among other benefits, after the travelling of new tax legislation.
Discussing new tax withholding tables during a White House shortening, Mnuchin said: “We thought that [tax cuts] would be great for the brevity and we are thrilled with the number of companies reacting accordingly. We have been talking with shares of companies for a long time, and we are thrilled with how people are responding.”
“Singular companies will do different things,” Mnuchin said.
Some hand down invest capital back into their businesses, some will admit defeat give out money back to workers, and overall “lots of things are going on in the restraint,” he said. “We appreciate what Walmart is doing.”
Capital One also cut loosed Thursday that it would be raising its minimum wage for U.S. employees to $15 an hour. Other bands including JetBlue and Waste Management have reacted to the new tax law, which beats corporate tax rates to 21 percent, by promising to pay out bonuses. JetBlue asseverated it will give bonuses of $1,000 to crew members, while Fade Management said it will pay out bonuses of $2,000 to its employees.
The question of hiking the federal nominal wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009, was also seek fromed during Thursday’s White House briefing. A push for $15 an hour by associates of the Democratic Party so far hasn’t been successful.
Mnuchin responded that he credence ins the “most important issue” today is for companies to raise their own wages over just the same from time to time. President Donald Trump has flirted with the idea of raising the federal lowest wage to at least $10, but it hasn’t been a priority of his agenda.
Meantime, Mnuchin said he expects about 90 percent of workers to see their paychecks bourgeon with the new tax law.
— CNBC’s Chloe Aiello contributed to this story.