Biden raises the minimum wage for workers hired by the US government

The president of United States, Joe Biden, is going to sign on Tuesday a decree that increases the minimum hourly wage of workers in companies that work for the federal government to $ 15, a step to fulfill its campaign promise to increase the salary of all workers in the country at that level.

The decree establishes “that companies under contract with the federal government pay a minimum hourly wage of $ 15,” the White House said in a statement.

The current minimum wage is $ 10.95 an hour for these workers, who are not public servants but work for the federal government of the United States through companies under contract with the state.

The measure will affect “hundreds of thousands of workers,” from federal building maintenance or upkeep workers, waiters in government cafeterias or assistants to war veterans, according to the White House, which did not indicate the exact number of beneficiaries.

The measure will begin to apply on March 30, 2022 for all new contracts. Then it will be done with contract renewals, which are generally done every year.

Salaries will then be increased based on annual inflation.

The White House assured that this salary increase will not be accompanied by an increase in cost for the taxpayer, and even believes that it will improve productivity.

The measure “ensures that hundreds of thousands of workers no longer have to work full time while living in poverty,” the Biden administration said.

Raising the minimum wage for all workers in the country from $ 7.25 today to $ 15 was a campaign promise from Biden.

Several US distribution giants, such as Costco, Target or Amazon, have set their minimum wage at $ 15 or more.