Bank of America workers are getting a pay bump at the end June when minimum wages climb to $22 as a part of the major bank’s longstanding plan to get its starting rate to $25 by 2025.

It’s good news for the bank’s workers at a time when inflation keeps increasing the cost of living. Bank of America BAC, 5.92% has almost 166,000 U.S. employees and approximately 15% will see larger paychecks due to the minimum wage increase, a spokeswoman said.

But the big bank’s pay raise — amounting to a $45,000 yearly salary — might feel like an unattainable number for people working elsewhere.

That’s because the $22 rate is more than triple the federal minimum wage of $7.25, which lawmakers last increased in 2009. And $22 breezes past the $15 hourly wage so many workers are advocating for, if they don’t have it already.

An estimated 51.9 million American workers are earning less than $15 an hour, according to Oxfam, a global poverty charity. There are more than 150 million non-farm employees working in America, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data compiled by the Federal Reserve’s Bank of St. Louis.

Average hourly earnings were $31.85 in April, according to the St. Louis Fed data.

Bank of America announced the increase from $21 on the same day gas prices broke a new national average record yet again.

The Oxfam report in March noted minority workers made the outsized share of people earning less than $15. Researchers said 47% of Black people made less than $15, compared to 26% of...

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