Hobby Lobby Increases Minimum Wage For Full-Timers

Full-time Hobby Lobby workers are about to be very happy. That's because the retailer is apparently raising their minimum hourly wage for full-time employees.

According to We Are Iowa, Hobby Lobby announced Monday that effective October 1 the minimum hourly wage will increase to $17. That's incredible considering the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. The increase comes after a challenging year. We Are Iowa reports that Hoby Lobby founder and CEO David Green stated “Because this year has presented so many challenges to our employees, we are very happy that we are able to provide pay increases to thousands of our associates before the Christmas season.”

The wage increase isn't unusual for the company considering they have stated that they were "one of the first companies to set a nationwide minimum hourly wage above the federal minimum wage in 2009." And they've raised minimum wages ten times since then, according to the report. There are two Hobby Lobby locations in the Corridor, one off of Collins Rd. in Cedar Rapids and the other at 2050 8th St. in Iowa City.

Hobby Lobby may have been one of the first to increase wages, but they aren't the only. For example, Target increased their minimum wage to $15 per hour in July of this year. It's nice to see minimum wages go up for workers considering the cost of living certainly isn't getting any cheaper.