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Walmart, WMT, increases average hourly wage to more than $17.50.

Walmart U.S. CEO and President John Furner said "starting next month, we’ll begin investing in higher wages for associates."

He added: "This includes a mixture of associates’ regular annual increases and targeted investments in starting rates for thousands of stores, to ensure we have attractive pay in the markets we operate. We expect these raises will bring our U.S. average hourly wage to more than $17.50. They’ll be reflected in March 2 paychecks."

A Walmart representative also told CNBC that its overall minimum wage would climb to $14 an hour, a roughly 17% jump for workers who stock shelves and serve customers.

About 340,000 store employees will get a raise, representing 21% of Walmart’s 1.6 million U.S. employees, per CNBC.