CHARLOTTE, N.C.–The nation’s credit unions, already feeling pressure to hire and retain employees, are competing anew with Bank of America, which said it has raised its minimum wage to $21 an hour.
For an employee getting 40 hours per week, that works out to $43,680.
As CUToday.info reported earlier, the bank had already announced plans to raise its minimum wage to $25 an hour by 2025.
BofA is the only one of the largest banks in the country to announce the increase to $21 an hour, although JPMorgan Chase & Co, the largest bank in the U.S., announced an increase in its minimum wage in 2020 to $20 an hour in 2019. Citigroup said in 2019 it had increased its minimum to $15 an hour, while Wells Fargo said in 2020 it was increasing its minimum wage to $15-$20 an hour, although not in all parts of the U.S.
Declining Number of Employees
But even if it increases its pay, Wells Fargo recently released a report predicting that automation will cut 100,000 bank jobs across the country in the next few years, according to Bloomberg.
Bank of America has also reported big gains in its number of digital users, reporting a record of 40.5 million digital users, up 1.2 million year-over-year. The bank said 70% of its clients were engaging digitally for more of their financial needs, and that digital channels have become the primary method for clients to access banking needs. Seven-million BofA customers use the bank’s virtual assistant “Erica.”
Like Wells Fargo, BofA has reported a decline in total number of employees, from 288,000 in 2010 to 213,000 in 2020.