In the retail business, good employees are apparently becoming harder to find. Joining its main competitor, Walmart, Target will reportedly raise its lowest wage to $10, starting new employees at that rate or higher, and raising the pay of current employees who earn less than $10 to that level.

The report comes from Reuters, which reported the story based on conversations with people familiar with the plan but not authorized to speak with the press about it.

If this sounds familiar, you may remember that Walmart gave current and starting employees a similar boost to $10 earlier this year.

In other big boxes further down the strip mall, the same trend is happening: Costco raised its wage floor to $13 last month. Last year, T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods raised their minimum pay level to $9 per hour.

Changing the status of some but not all employees can lead to resentment: last year, when Walmart began a series of pay raises for employees, they found that employees who earned more than $10 per hour and had earned raises through promotions or good performance resented newer employees who were hired at a higher rate, or who received automatic raises and longer-serving, higher-paid employees didn’t receive anything extra in their paycheck.

To prevent issues like that, the source that told Reuters about the planned raises said that employees who earn over $10 would be eligible for merit raises and potentially a change in their pay grade depending on their performance and experience.

Target would not confirm the news about planned raises when Reuters contacted the company. “We pay market competitive rates and regularly benchmark the marketplace to ensure that our compensation and benefits packages will help us to both recruit and retain great talent,” a Target spokesperson said in a statement.

Target’s last company-wide pay boost was last year, when they set a minimum of $9 per hour.

Exclusive: Target increases minimum wage to $10 an hour – sources [Reuters]

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