American retail giant Walmart said it will increase minimum wage to US$9 per hour in stores around the US starting April, with the aim of raising the minimum wage to at least US$10 an hour by 2016.

The minimum wage increase will affect about 500,000 Walmart workers, who will be earning US$1.75 an hour more than what the federal minimum wage requires.

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By February 2016, all employees of Walmart will be earning at least US$10 an hour, or US$2.75 higher than the federal minimum wage of US$7.25 an hour.

Aside from raising the minimum salaries of its workers, whom Walmart refer to as associates, the retail giant will also start training programs.

These training programs, Walmart said, will allow associates to move from entry level jobs to positions with more responsibility and pay at least US$15 an hour.

While the minimum wage increase is expected to hit earnings of Walmart, officials said it will be in the short term.

"Given the investments we're making in our worldwide e-commerce initiatives and in our associates through higher wages and training, we expect operating income to be pressured in fiscal 2016," said Wal-Mart Chief Financial Officer Charles Holley.

The long awaited move, it said, will be a long term positive for the Walmart, America's largest employer with 1.3 million people on its US payrolls.

Walmart's decision to raise minimum wage came at a time that several advocacy groups that are pressing for workers' rights have been targeting the retailer.

Previous protests called for Walmart to raise minimum wage to at least US$15 per hour.

Walmart reported US$485.7 billion in revenue and US$16.4 billion in net income last year. Earnings per share were US$4.99 or US$5.07 adjusted.

"Walmart U.S. delivered better than expected comp sales. Sam's Club had its best performance of the year, and Walmart International had solid sales and profitability. Like many other global companies, we faced significant headwinds from currency exchange rate fluctuations, so I'm pleased that we delivered fiscal year revenue of $486 billion." said CEO Doug McMillon in a statement on the results.

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