Biden to raise minimum wage to $15 for federal contractors

The executive order comes as part of a wider push for a $15 an hour minimum wage in the US.

United States President Joe Biden will issue an executive order to raise the minimum wage for hundreds of thousands of federal contract workers to $15, the White House has said. The move on Tuesday will increase the current minimum wage of $10.95 by nearly 37 percent by March of next year and continue to tie future increases to inflation, according to the White House. It comes as part of a larger push by some Democrats and Biden to make the national minimum wage $15. “The executive order ensures that hundreds of thousands of workers no longer have to work full time and still live in poverty,” the White House said in a statement. “It will improve the economic security of families and make progress toward reversing decades of income inequality.”