Wal-Mart announced it would increase its minimum wage for employees. The retail giant said it would raise its minimum hourly wage to $9 in April 2015 and then to $10 per hour in February 2016. Wal-Mart is the largest private employer in the U.S. with nearly 1.4 million workers. The pay increase affects about 500,000 Wal-Mart employees and will cost the company about $1 billion per year. Labor groups argue the pay is still too low and have been pushing large employers to pay workers at least $15 an hour.