President Biden is issuing an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay employees a minimum wage of $15 an hour by January 30th of next year. The current baseline is just under $11 an hour.
The president tried to boost the federal minimum wage for the whole U.S. labor force in his COVID relief bill but the provision got cut.
The White House thinks the raise for contract workers will push wages up for non-government employees amid competition for labor.
