Gerrity’s Increases Starting Rates Gerrity’s Supermarkets is very proud to announce that they have raised the starting rates for all positions. The family-owned business has also rolled out annual raises early for most existing employees. As an added incentive, the company also continues to offer a new hire bonus of up to $500. According to Joe Fasula, Co-owner of Gerrity’s, the ongoing labor shortage continues to make it difficult to find and hire people. “We know that our team is the reason for our success. We want to reward the people who got us here and we want to find more people so we can make everyone’s job easier. We recognize that the store with the best team is going to give the customer the best experience,” said Fasula. All full-time starting rates have moved to $14 per hour. Skilled positions like butchers, cooks, cake decorators, and bakers start at $17, and butchers and cooks can go as high as $20 depending on experience. On the job training is offered for all positions. Most part time positions start between $10 and $12 depending on position and availability. The result of the rate adjustments is an increase in average hourly rate of 8% over 2021, and that was 10% higher than 2020. Fasula does not anticipate needing to increase prices as a result of this change. “If it wasn’t for the higher sales that supermarkets have experienced over the past two years, we could never have been able to afford a wage increase like this. We have more employees in our departments than most other stores because we make so many of our products from scratch.”