President Joe Biden’s administration says hundreds of thousands of workers could see bigger paychecks starting next year due to its new minimum wage for federal contractors.
The Labor Department said Monday that it had finalized a regulation that sets a $15 wage floor for workers under federal contracts. Firms providing services to the U.S. government will have to pay workers at least that much under contracts implemented or renewed starting Jan. 30, 2022.
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The federal government already sets contractor minimums through prevailing wage law. But Jessica Looman, acting administrator for the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, said on a press call Monday that there are 327,000 workers under federal contracts who are currently entitled to less than $15 per hour.
Officials expect many of those workers to get raises as a result of the new regulation. Looman said restaurant workers, child care workers and maintenance workers are some of the most likely to see pay boosts.
“The bottom line is we really want to make sure we are leveraging the purchasing power of the federal government to ensure fair wages for workers across the country,” Looman said.
Biden had signed an executive order directing the Labor Department to develop the regulation back in April.
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