According to a September 11^th posting in The Wall Street Journal, Walmart stores will reduce the starting wage rate with a new pay structure that will allow flexibility in staffing. Existing workers will not be subject to any pay cut and 50,000 employees will receive raises to conform to the new minimum of $12 to $14 per hour.  This compares with Amazon and Target both with a $15 per hour minimum.

The weekly Economy, Energy and Commodity Report posted in EGG-NEWS has documented the reduction in available U.S.  jobs to 8.8 million on July 31^st, down 4.4 percent from 9.2 million on June 30^th of this year.  Successive weekly non-farm payroll figures have shown a decrease in jobs created, although the unemployment rate is now at a historic low of 3.5 percent.

Walmart, Target and Amazon minimum wage rates can be compared to the July National Average Hourly Rate of $33.74, up 0.4 percent from June and 4.4 percent higher year-over-year.