Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for U.S. employees

Amazon is increasing its minimum wage to $15 per hour for all full-time, part-time, temporary and seasonal employees across the U.S effective November 1.

In their Tuesday morning announcement, the company said the new $15 minimum wage will benefit more than 250,000 Amazon employees, as well as over 100,000 seasonal employees who will be hired at Amazon sites across the country this holiday.

This will also apply to Whole Foods employees, the company said.

"We listened to our critics, thought hard about what we wanted to do, and decided we want to lead," Jeff Bezos, Amazon Founder and CEO, said in a statement. "We're excited about this change and encourage our competitors and other large employers to join us."

They are phasing out their incentive program "and the $15 will be a simple minimum with no targets required."

Amazon said its public policy team will also begin advocating for an increase in the federal minimum wage.

"We will be working to gain Congressional support for an increase in the federal minimum wage. The current rate of $7.25 was set nearly a decade ago," Jay Carney, Senior Vice President of Amazon Global Corporate Affairs, said. "We intend to advocate for a minimum wage increase that will have a profound impact on the lives of tens of millions of people and families across this country."

Amazon said their hourly Operations and Customer Service employees who are already making $15 will also see an increase in pay.

There will be no changes to their benefits package, the company said.

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