Joe Biden will sign an executive order to raise the federal minimum wage

Joe Biden will sign an executive order forcing federal contractors to pay the minimum hourly wage as the U.S. president puts pressure on companies to offer higher wages to workers.

Biden’s move, expected on Tuesday, has come as Congress slows efforts to cut the federal minimum wage to more than $ 7.25 an hour in the country, leading to a search for unilateral solutions.

According to senior administrative officials, Biden’s executive order will direct government agencies to pay a $ 15-hour salary on all contract applications that began in January 2022, and will implement them in all contracts by March next year. Higher wages should also be included in annual contract extensions and indexed to inflation.

Biden has made the higher minimum wage the basis of his economic agenda, but did not get enough support from Capitol Hill to pass it as part of a $ 1.9 million stimulus package. Shortly after taking office, he ordered officials to consider imposing a higher minimum wage on federal contractors, which led to the expected announcement on Tuesday.

Many Republicans and some moderate Democrats fear that higher minimum wages would reduce employment by imposing excessive burdens on companies. But top officials in the Biden administration reject the criticism.

“It wouldn’t reduce employment. . . but it would improve employee productivity, and then create high-quality work by boosting employee health, morale, and effort, ”said a senior administration official, who noted that the proposal was reviewed by the White House Economic Advisory Council. enabling lower costs associated with recruitment and training sites. “

Federal contractors currently pay at least $ 10.95 to hourly workers following an executive order signed by former President Barack Obama. The staff to get the increase under the Biden plan are mostly from the service sector, the White House said, cleaning staff, maintenance workers, nursing assistants, cafeteria workers and workers who build and repair federal infrastructure.

The enforcement order would deprive federal contractors of their ability to pay a lower minimum wage for advice-based workers, currently at $ 7.65 an hour.

The push to achieve higher minimum wage wages has helped make its economic agenda pleasing to trade unions and the left wing of the democratic party. The U.S. president will have a new opportunity to discuss his support for politics in his speech to Congress on Wednesday.

Some lawmakers have tried to find a compromise on Capitol Hill to see if a blow to the federal minimum wage of at least $ 11 or 12 an hour could be acceptable – many Democrats believe the economy is less than it needs, many Republicans believe the increase is too many steps.