Walmart Inc. said Monday it will temporarily raise minimum wages for workers in e-commerce fulfillment centers or warehouses, effective immediately through the Memorial Day this year. The company's decision comes after a similar move by e-commerce giant Amazon.com.

The retail giant recently said it will hire 150,000 hourly associates in response to growing online shopping demand amid the pandemic. These include full-time, part-time and temporary positions in distribution centers and fulfillment centers.

Depending on location, workers at distribution centers will receive entry wages starting between $17 and $18 per hour, while employees at fulfillment centers will receive anywhere between $15 and $19 per hour.

These numbers reflect a new, temporary pay increase for Walmart associates at fulfillment centers. From now through Memorial Day, pay for all hourly associates in fulfillment centers will increase by $2 per hour, Walmart noted.

In addition, the company is offering benefits like advanced training through Walmart Academies and access to affordable college.

Walmart also said that at fulfillment centers, associates referring a new hire to their facility are eligible to receive a $250 bonus and the person being hired will also receive a $250 bonus. Both associates will be paid out after the new associate has been employed 90 days.

According to reports, Amazon.com is temporarily boosting overtime pay for hourly workers in its U.S. warehouse to tackle an increasing number of online orders due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The hourly workers will reportedly receive double pay for overtime, up from the 1.5-times rate, with the increase effective from March 15 to May 9. They will qualify to receive double pay after 40 hours.

Last week, Amazon said it plans to hire 100,000 warehouse and delivery workers across the U.S. to meet the surge in demand from people relying on its service following the COVID-19 outbreak.

The job openings would be in fulfillment centers and its delivery network. Amazon said it will pay an additional $2 per hour worked over the current rate of $15 per hour or more.

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