Biden to mandate $15 minimum wage for federal contract workers

U.S. President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Tuesday increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour for federal contract workers.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Although U.S. President Joe Biden was unable to get a $15 minimum wage provision included in his COVID-19 relief package, he's making good on that campaign promise for one group of people: federal contract workers. Biden will sign an executive order on Tuesday increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour for hundreds of thousands of people who are working on federal contracts. However, the raise won't kick in immediately. The executive order states that all federal agencies will need to implement the $15 minimum wage in new contracts by March 30, 2022. It's difficult to amend existing contracts, but wages can be changed when they are up for annual review. Currently, the minimum wage for federal contract workers is $10.95. It was raised to $10.10 under U.S. President Barack Obama in 2014 and later indexed to inflation.