IKEA is the latest retailer to up its company-wide minimum wage for U.S. employees, according to a report from The New York Times.

The Swedish furniture conglomerate on Thursday announced its plan to adopt a new wage structure that is expected to increase pay for about 50 percent of U.S. employees, the Times reported. The change in company policy will take effect on Jan. 1, 2015.

The new IKEA minimum wage won't be standard across the entire U.S., but rather entry-level wages are said to be based on the MIT Living Wage Calculator, which estimates the wages required to meet minimum standards of living in each county of each state, according to MSNBC.

For example, the minimum wage will range from a low of $8.69 an hour at its stores in Pittsburgh and West Chester, Ohio, to $13.22 an hour at its store in Woodbridge, Virginia, according to the Times.

After the change takes place next year, the average wage for U.S.-based IKEA employees will be $10.76, a 17 percent increase of current wages, the Times report said. The federal minimum wage is $7.25, $3.51 less than what IKEA has proposed.

"We had always focused on making sure we were above average with our compensation rates, so whatever the average of our competitive set was, we wanted to be higher than that," Rob Olson, chief financial officer, for IKEA U.S. told MSNBC. "Now we've said, let's not worry about where the competition is, let's worry about where the coworker is."

The IKEA announcement follows the February revelation by Gap Inc. that it would be increasing its U.S. base pay from $9 an hour to $10, MSNBC said. Some have suggested that companies are upping their minimum wage ahead of inevitable local, state and federal wage increases.

"I predict that we'll see more companies stepping forward to raise wages, as well as pressure continuing to mount for cities, states and (the) federal government to raise the minimum wage across the board," Amy Traub, a senior political analyst for Demos, told MSNBC. Demos is a nonprofit organization that promotes community equality, according to its website.