Biden to sign $15 minimum wage for federal contract workers

(AP) President Joe Biden is preparing to sign an executive order to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour for federal contractors.

Administration officials say the order will provide a pay bump to hundreds of thousands of those workers. They say that workers will become more productive as a result, so the increase should not be costly to taxpayers.

The increase to be approved under Tuesday’s executive order could be dramatic for workers who earn the current minimum of $10.95 an hour. Those workers would receive a 37% pay hike, though the increase would be rolled out gradually, under to the terms of the order.