By Senad Karaahmetovic

Apple (NASDAQ) plans to raise wages in an era of high inflation and troubled labor markets.

Apple sent employees an email letting them know that it was increasing its total compensation budget and raising the hourly starting wage of its U.S. workers. This increase could be as high as $22, depending on market conditions. The wage hike marks a 45% increase from Apple’s hourly pay in 2018.

“Supporting and retaining the best team members in the world enables us to deliver the best, most innovative, products and services for our customers,” an Apple representative told WSJ in a statement.

“This year as part of our annual performance review process, we’re increasing our overall compensation budget.”

The tech behemoth has been grappling with labor-related difficulties – from front-line store employees making unionization efforts to engineers voicing their concerns over Apple’s plans to bring them back to the office as the pandemic eased.

Apple informed employees in AppleCare stores that the wage increases would take effect in early July. Additionally, their annual reviews will move up three months.

These workers were also informed by the company that they would receive an increase in their compensation budget, as well as the special perks and wage increases that had been received during the previous year.

In recent times, tech companies have struggled to keep their talent. In addition, one of their strongest compensation means, stock awards, has also been affected recently after a strong drawdown of the broader market and companies’ valuations.

Apple shares are down almost 23% from the beginning of the year.