Walmart Inc. has lowered starting pay for some store employees after changing its wage structure in July.
A Walmart spokeswoman confirmed the change Thursday after The Wall Street Journal reported it, citing documents it had reviewed and store employees.
Starting pay will vary by store, the company said, with new hires making the lowest possible hourly wage for their particular store.
Walmart's minimum hourly wage starts at $14 an hour but varies by region. The Bentonville-based retailer employs about 1.6 million workers in the U.S.
The Walmart spokeswoman told The Journal that the new pay structure lets workers do different jobs across the store so they can learn new skills to move up in the company.
Earlier this year, Walmart raised its minimum wage for store employees to a range of $14 to $19 an hour, up from $12 to $18 an hour.
John Furner, chief executive officer of Walmart U.S., told employees in January that some of the wage increases would show up with their regular annual pay raises, while others would come as higher starting wages.