Wal-Mart is exploring whether to support an increase in the federal minimum wage, especially since it could increase the company’s profits, the National Journal reports.
David Tovar, a spokesman for the retailer, told Bloomberg on Wednesday that the company was "looking at" supporting the increase.
"Whenever there's debates," he said, "it's not like we look once and make a decision. We look a few times from other angles."
Tovar points out that boosting the minimum wage would encourage shoppers who have additional income to spend at the store—something no retailer would ever complain about.
However, “it’s really hard to model behavior based on these kinds of changes,” Tovar admitted, so for now the company is just weighing its options.
Wal-Mart employs about 1.3 million people in the U.S., with 300,000 of those employees earning on average $8.75 per hour. If the federal minimum wage is increased to $10.10, as President Barack Obama and other Democrats propose, the impact on the company and its employees could be huge.
Read more at the National Journal.