Bank of America increases minimum wage to $21 as labor shortages push up compensation

Bank of America announced on Wednesday that it has raised its U.S. minimum hourly wage to $21, the next step in the company's plans to increase the pay to $25 by 2025. With employees getting paid $21 per hour, their annualized salary comes out to $43,680. In May, the company announced that all of its U.S. vendors were required to pay their employees dedicated to the bank at or above $15 per hour. The change comes in the midst of labor shortages taking place all over the United States, as companies struggle to hire and retain employees, especially for lower wage jobs. The increase would put Bank of America at roughly three times the U.S. minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.