The executive order raising the level for federal contract workers, which applies to new contracts or existing contracts in which terms are being changed, will take effect at the beginning of next year, with janitors and construction workers among the beneficiaries.
Issuing the order allows the Democratic president to bypass Congress, where Republicans oppose a broad increase in the minimum wage. But liberals felt Obama's move did not go far enough, arguing that he should have extended the wage hike to existing federal contracts.
"This action, while a step forward, suggests he may still be unwilling to take the fighting stance necessary to deliver the big wins over growing inequality that our country desperately needs," said Jim Dean, chairman of the liberal advocacy group Democracy for America.
White House officials said Obama would also announce new executive actions on retirement security and job training to help middle-class workers expand economic opportunity.
Obama will say he is offering a set of "concrete, practical proposals" to speed up economic growth and strengthen the middle class, which he says has lost jobs because of shifts in technology and global competition.
"Today, after four years of economic growth, corporate profits and stock prices have rarely been higher, and those at the top have never done better. But average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled," Obama will say, according to the excerpts.
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