On February 12, 2014 President Obama signed Executive Order 13658 establishing a minimum wage for federal contractors.  Effective January 1, 2015, the minimum hourly wage for workers performing work on covered contracts was $10.10.  The Executive Order gave the Secretary of Labor the authority to determine the hourly rate for subsequent years.

With this authority, the U.S. Secretary of Labor announced the new minimum hourly rate effective January 1, 2016 will be $10.15 – a $0.05 per hour increase.  The new minimum wage for tipped employees covered by the executive order will increase as well effective January 1, 2016 to $5.85 per hour.