At his State of the Union Address last month, Obama promised to soon issue an executive order that would hike the minimum for workers on new federal contracts to $10.10 per hour from the current federal rate of $7.25.

The executive action by Obama, who is pressing Congress to pass a minimum wage increase that would cover all workers, could potentially affect tens of thousands of low-wage earners who do janitorial, dish-washing and other tasks for the federal government through contractors.

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