$15 minimum wage for federal contractors beginning Jan 30th

According to a final rule announced by the Labor Department on Monday, employees of federal contractors will make a minimum of $15 per hour, providing a wage increase to over 300,000 workers in the country. The wage floor will affect contracts that are executed or extended beginning on January 30, 2022. The current minimum wage for contractors is $10.95 according to a rule enacted by the Obama administration in 2014 and is scheduled to rise to $11.25 on January 1. Paul Light, an expert on the federal workforce at NYU has estimated that five million people work for employers with a federal contract including security guards, food workers, janitors and call center workers. He says that most of them already make more than $15 an hour. The new rule will affect the construction contracts entered into by the federal government. 

Martin J Walsh, Labor secretary said in a statement that the rule "improves the economic security of these workers and their families, many of whom are women and people of color." President Biden announced the rule in April when he signed an executive order directing the department to issue it. The announcement came amid a series of pro-labor moves by the administration which included reversing some of the Trump administration's rules softening worker protections and allocating tens of billions to strengthen union pension funds. 

Source: The New York Times