President Obama announced in his State of the Union speech that he would sign an executive order to raise the minimum wage of federal contract employees to $10.10 per hour.

      The increase would cover only new contracts and likely would go into effect in 2015.

      It is expected to cover up to 200,000 vendor employees, about 10% of the federal contract workforce. That includes food service workers, groundskeepers, janitors and security guards.

      The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, since 2009, but some jurisdictions set a higher rate. The minimum wage in the District of Columbia is $8.25 an hour, for example.

      While unions have praised the order, the conservative-leaning National Association of Government Contractors industry group suggested it might hurt small businesses. The wage hike “could be seen as another barrier to entry for small firms hoping to get started in government contracting,” Simon Brody, vice president, wrote in a statement on the group’s website.

      The order will not affect contract renewals unless other terms of the agreement change, such as the type of work or number of employees needed, ABC News reported. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-MN, told ABC News he hopes to see wages go up to $10.10 per hour for all renewed contracts.

      The president said he hopes the order will pressure Congress to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 this year for all employees.

      Stan Soloway, president of the Professional Services Council, said he was “deeply concerned with any implication that federal contractors are paying substandard wages.” The vast majority of federal contractors already are paid more than the minimum wage under the Services Contract Act, he said.

      Some federal concession operators, including food service providers who lease space in federal buildings, are not covered under the service contract act. It was not clear whether they would be covered by the president’s order.