Federal employees will start earning $15 hourly minimum wage by end of January

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The Biden administration will start paying federal civilian employees a $15 hourly minimum wage by the end of the month, the Office of Personnel Management announced Friday, raising the pay for thousands of workers across the federal government.

OPM Director Kiran Ahuja in a new memo provided guidance to agency leaders for adjusting pay rates to at least a $15 hourly rate for federal employees stationed in the United States. An estimated 67,000 employees across the 2.2 million federal civilian workforce will be affected by the policy changes, OPM said.

"As the largest employer in the country, how the federal government treats its workforce has real impact," said Ahuja in a statement. "The Biden-Harris Administration believes that the federal workforce should be treated with dignity and respect. Raising pay rates across the federal government to a minimum of $15 per hour reflects our appreciation for the federal workforce and our values as a nation."

The salary changes "must be effective beginning on the first day of the first applicable pay period commencing on or after Jan. 30, 2022," the OPM memo states.

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