On March 14, 2025, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14236, titled “Additional Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions.” This Order revoked Executive Order 14026 of April 27, 2021, “Increasing the Minimum Wage for Federal Contractors’, that had dramatically raised the federal contractor minimum wage and provided annual adjustments based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, with the most recent increase occurring on January 1, 2025, to $17.75 per hour. 

Rescinding the 2021 Executive Order means that the federal contractor minimum wage rate for covered government contracts will be based on the immediately preceding Executive Order, which is Executive Order 13658 of 2014, which established a $13.30 per hour rate as of January 1, 2025.  This rate may be adjusted for 2026 based on the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), but no such change has been announced. 

Contractors subject to these requirements fall into the following four categories: procurement contracts for construction covered by the Davis-Bacon Act; service contracts covered by the Service Contract Act; concessions contracts, including any concessions contract excluded from the SCA by the Department’s regulations at 29 CFR 4.133(b); and contracts in connection with federal property or lands and related to offering services for federal employees, their dependents, or the general public.

In setting wage rates under federal contracts, employers should watch for our updates and keep in mind that other applicable federal, state, and local minimum wage laws still apply.

The author would like to gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Joanne Warriner.

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