The retailer, with about 65,000 minimum-wage workers, joined companies such asCostco (COST), Whole Foods (WFM), and In-N-Out Burger in agreeing to raise the bottom of its hourly pay scale above the $7.25 federal minimum. Gap Chief Executive Glenn Murphy announced on Thursday that the company will set its minimum hourly rate for U.S. employees at $9 this year and $10 in 2015.
President Obama has called for a new federal minimum wage of $10.10 an hour. Among those who support the increase: a majority of Americans, seven Nobel prize-winning economists, and Gap (GPS).