Walmart's decision to raise new employees' hourly rate was based in part on the need to be more diverse and inclusive labor market dynamics the need to find skilled laborers their need to find qualified retail workers a move toward automation When a Walmart employee receives a recurring wage for work performed, this is known as base pay commission pay incentive pay bonus pay total compensation Walmart's wage increase decision was also based on interindustry wage differentials intraindustry wage differentials consumer complaints about its low paid workers general economic wage differentials its realization that it needed to pay its employees more While new Walmart employees' hourly rate is $9.00, any benefits (healthcare, child care, etc.) that are extended to the employee are known as base plus commission total compensation base plus commission xtra compensation indirect financial compensation