Amazon bumps minumum wage to $15 amid tight labor

Online retail giant Amazon announced Tuesday it would raise its starting wage for US workers to $15 an hour, amid long-standing criticism of low pay, and advocate for a higher minimum wage nationwide. The pay raise will apply to 250,000 employees, starting November 1, and to the more than 100,000 seasonal workers the company expects to hire for the holiday shopping season. Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said the company, with a market valuation of nearly $1 trillion, heard the complaints about the pay structure.