Target to boost employee minimum wage to $15 per hour, give frontline workers $200 bonus

This summer, retail giant Target will boost its minimum wage to $15 per hour, double the federal minimum wage.

Target employees will be eligible to receive a minimum wage of $2 more than the company's current $13 per hour beginning July 5. The federal minimum wage is $7.25, a number set back in 2009 in the midst of the Great Recession.

The initiative also includes a one-time bonus of $200 for frontline workers, which is on top of the $250 to $1,500 bonuses paid out to nearly 20,000 hourly store team in April.

VIDEO: These states will raise their minimum wage in 2020

The minimum wage will increase in more than two dozen states and the nation's capital in 2020. The federal minimum wage remains unchanged at $7.25.

Target is now paying employees 25% more than the U.S. industry average. Competitor Amazon already pays workers $15 an hour at minimum. Walmart, the biggest retailer and employer in the United States with 1.5 million employees, pays its minimum wage workers between $11 and $12 an hour.

This comes as more than 21 million out of work due to closures amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In September 2017, the company announced its commitment to raise its minimum hourly wage for all team members to $15 by 2020.