Walmart, America’s largest private employer, denied reports Wednesday that it is looking at supporting an increase in the federal minimum wage.

The company played down a report by Bloomberg that said Walmart might consider supporting a rise.

“That’s something we’re looking at. Whenever there’s debates, it’s not like we look once and make a decision. We look a few times from other angles,” it quoted spokesman David Tovar as saying.

Another Walmart spokeswoman said Tovar’s comments had been taken out of context and that the retailer had not changed its position on the minimum wage. “We are looking at it, as you would expect any large company. That does not mean we have changed our position,” she said.



Walmart has 1.3 million US employees, about 4,000 of whom currently make either a state or federal minimum wage.

Any move by Walmart would likely have major ripple effects and comes amid mounting pressure for an increase. President Obama called for a raise in the minimum wage in his state of the union speech last month. The president also said he would increase the hourly rate for federal contractors from $7.25 to $10.10.

“Those at the top have never done better,” he said during last month’s state of the union speech. “But average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled.”

“The cold, hard fact is that even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by, let alone to get ahead,” Obama said.

But a rise faces stiff opposition and has also been attacked by Republicans who claim it would kill job creation. It is also opposed by the National Retail Federation, of which Walmart is a member.

The retail giant has opposed raising minimum wages in the past. Walmart lobbied hard to block a rise in wages in the District of Columbia, threatening to scale back expansion if the city increased its minimum wage.

The news came as a report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) concluded raising the minimum wage would cost hundreds of thousands of jobs while lifting wages for millions more.

The CBO study concluded that a rise similar to the one being championed by Obama would lift 900,000 people out of poverty and boost earnings for some 16.5m Americans. At the same time the hike could cost 500,000 jobs.

This story was updated at 6.45pm ET to reflect an updated statement from Walmart