WAL-MART: We're giving 500,000 people a raise

Wal-Mart just announced that it will raise hourly pay for 500,000 of its associates.

By April, all hourly Wal-Mart employees will make at least $9.00 an hour.

By February of next year, all hourly Wal-Mart employees will make at least $10.00 an hour.

In its earnings release, Wal-Mart said:

Approximately 500,000 full-time and part-time associates at Walmart U.S. stores and Sam's Clubs will receive pay raises in the first half of the current fiscal year. Current and future associates will benefit from this initiative, which ensures that Walmart hourly associates earn at least $1.75 above today's federal minimum wage, or $9.00 per hour, in April. The following year, by Feb. 1, 2016, current associates will earn at least $10.00 per hour.

Wal-Mart said that for the full year, it will spend about $0.20 per share in earnings on the new initiative to hire, train, and pay employees.

In a statement, Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon said,

"Today, we announced comprehensive changes to our hiring, training, compensation and scheduling programs, as well as to our store management structure. These changes will give our U.S. associates the opportunity to earn higher pay and advance in their careers. We're pursuing a comprehensive approach that is sustainable over the long term. By realigning our store operational structure, associates can enjoy a closer relationship with their supervisors. In addition, associates will have more control over their schedules. The investment in these initiatives is more than $1 billion for this fiscal year.

Wal-Mart's wage announcement came as part of its fourth quarter earnings release, which showed results in the final quarter of 2014 coming in mixed.

Wal-Mart earned $1.61 per share - better than the $1.53 that was forecast by Wall Street - on revenue of $131.6 billion, which missed estimates.

On Wal-Mart's website, you can read the full letter McMillon sent to US employees on Thursday here »

More to come ...