We Just Got a Look at What Higher Wages Are Costing Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart investors got a closer look at the earnings impact of the company’s groundbreaking move to boost pay and employee hours, and they don’t like what they see.

The push to increase wages to at least $10 an hour by next year -- along with a related effort to improve training and bolster staffing levels -- will reduce profit by 24 cents a share, Wal-Mart said on Tuesday. That includes an 8-cent hit in the fiscal third quarter, which runs through October. Wal-Mart had previously said the effort would cost 20 cents this year, but extending worker hours is taking a bigger toll than expected.