Costco is joining the ranks of retail giants recognizing the need for a higher minimum wage.

For the first time in nine years, Costco announced that they are raising the hourly pay of its lowest paid workers from $11.50 and $12, to $13 and $13.50.

"This is a physically challenging job, on your feet, pushing cases, lifting carts so we thought it was time to do it," the company's chief financial officer, Richard Galanti, said on a conference call last week.

The move follows in the wake of similar pay raises by large retailers like McDonalds, and Starbucks, and even Walmart, which in 2015 gave a raise to half million workers;

Costco had already offered perks such as closing on major holidays, and health benefits, even to their hourly workers.

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