President Donald Trump on March 14 rescinded a 2021 executive order by President Joe Biden that increased the minimum wage for federal contractors to $15 an hour and then mandated further annual increases based on inflation. As of Jan. 1, 2025, the minimum was $17.75 an hour.
The Economic Policy Institute, a union-backed think tank, estimated that the Biden executive order raised wages for 390,000 workers, about one fifth of the federal contract workforce.
The rescission was part of an executive order that reversed 18 “harmful executive orders and actions” issued by President Joe Biden. Another 78 Biden executive orders were rescinded Jan. 20.
The U.S. Department of Labor has the authority to set a wage standard for federal contractors, ranging from janitors who clean federal buildings to food service workers on military bases. Though the Biden order is rescinded, a 2014 executive order by Barack Obama still mandates that federal contract workers make at least $13.30 per hour. Trump left that order intact during his first term, though a 2018 order excluded outdoor recreational businesses operating on federal lands from being covered by it.
