Hundreds of thousands of federal contract employees could soon receive pay raises after the Labor Department announced Monday that the minimum wage for them will be increased to $15 an hour starting Jan. 30.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order in April to hike the minimum pay for workers on federal contracts, initiating the rule-making process.

The increase will apply to new contracts as well as renewals and extensions of existing contracts, meaning not all contract workers will see larger paychecks immediately. 

“The workers helped by Executive Order 14026 and today’s final rule do essential work on our nation’s behalf.,” Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said in a news release Monday. “They build and repair the federal infrastructure, clean and maintain our national parks, monuments and other federal facilities, care for our veterans, and ensure federal workers and military service members are provided with safe and nutritious food. Implementing this Executive Order improves the economic security of these workers and their families, many of whom are women and people of color.”

The executive order also continues to index the minimum wage in future years to inflation and ensures at least $15 an hour for workers with disabilities as well. It restores minimum wage protections to outfitters and guides operating on federal lands that had been revoked by former President Donald Trump. 

And it eliminates the tipped minimum wage for contract employees. Currently, employers are required to pay federal contract workers who receive tips $7.65 per hour as long as the gratuities bring to their overall pay to the $10.95 per hour, the current minimum wage for other federal contractors. 

More than 320,000 workers stand to benefit from the higher minimum wage.

“I believe no one should work full-time and still live in poverty,”  Biden posted on Twitter in April in announcing the executive order.

Biden administration officials argue that the higher pay will improve worker productivity, generate higher-quality work by boosting employees’ health, morale and effort, and reduce worker turnover, saving money spent on recruiting and training.

Some Republicans, however, have criticized the move.

In July, North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, the top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, released a statement saying the higher minimum wage was “disguised as a win for workers” but will “severely disadvantage small businesses competing for federal contracts because they are poorly positioned to absorb these additional expenses.”

“President Biden does not understand or encourage hard work and entrepreneurship," Foxx added. "With this punitive mandate, he is paving the way for increased automation, a reduction in workers’ hours, and additional small business closures."

The Biden administration sought earlier this year to begin gradually raising the minimum wage for federal employees to $15 an hour by by 2025 by including it in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. The Senate parliamentarian, however, ruled that the measure did not meet the rules for being included in a budget bill that only required support from a simple majority of senators, and it faced extremely long odds of receiving a filibuster-proof 60 votes in separate legislation.