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President Obama in New Orleans last month. He planned to announce an executive order on paid sick leave while in Boston on Monday.Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

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President Obama plans to sign an executive order on Monday requiring federal contractors to provide up to seven days of paid sick leave a year, his latest use of executive power to change the rules of the American workplace, the White House said.

The president will announce the order during a Labor Day trip to Boston, where, aides said, he will also renew his call on Congress to pass legislation expanding paid sick and family leave in the private sector. He chose Boston as the venue because Massachusetts voters approved a new paid sick-leave law last year. It took effect in July.

The executive order will have no real effect until after Mr. Obama’s presidency; because it must first go through a public comment period, it will apply only to new federal contracts starting in 2017. But the White House hopes it will set a standard that will prod lawmakers, private employers, and state and local governments to expand their leave policies.

“We have to do better, and we can do better,” Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama, told reporters on a conference call on Sunday. “It’s good for business, it’s good for our economy, and it’s good for the American family.”

The order is the latest move by Mr. Obama to use his power over federal contracts to institute changes on a small slice of the labor market that he cannot persuade Congress to enact for the whole country.

Among other things, he has signed orders requiring contractors to pay higher minimum wages, ban retaliation against workers who discuss their compensation, provide employees more information about their pay and protect gay and transgender workers from discrimination.

The administration has also used its regulatory power to affect workplaces outside the federal orbit. Among other things, it has advanced rules aimed at guaranteeing millions more Americans the right to extra overtime pay; it has cracked down on employers who deny workers basic protections by classifying them as contractors; andits appointees have made it easier for employees of contractors and franchises to bargain collectively with corporations with sway over their operations

Mr. Obama’s assertive exercise of his authority over federal contactors has generated objections from business groups that argue he is going too far and from lawmakers who complain that he is circumventing the legislative process. Critics say he is piling expensive mandates onto companies doing business with the federal government as a sop to his political base in organized labor without accounting for additional costs.

The National Federation of Independent Business, while acknowledging that Mr. Obama has the authority to place conditions on federal contractors, forecast the criticism of his latest action by issuing a statement complaining about another government mandate dictating to private firms.

“No business in America would require its suppliers and contractors to increase costs that will naturally boomerang back in the form of higher prices,” said Jack Mozloom, the federation’s media director. He said any call by the president to follow suit will ignore the fact that most employers are small businesses that cannot afford the benefit.

“Mandatory paid leave is a great benefit for workers whose employers offer it,” he said. “For workers whose employers can’t absorb the cost, it’s an arbitrary expense that will ultimately result in shorter hours, lower pay or disappearing jobs.”

Mr. Obama’s aides said on Sunday that sick leave was not only a necessary benefit for workers but also a tool for improving productivity, reducing turnover and preventing the spread of illness in the workplace.

While federal law guarantees most workers unpaid family and medical leave, the Obama administration estimated that 44 million private-sector workers, or about 40 percent of the total private-sector work force, did not receive paid sick leave.

“We live in a modern world, but our family and medical leave policies are stuck in the ‘Ozzie and Harriet’ and ‘Leave It to Beaver’ eras,” said Thomas E. Perez, the labor secretary.

The president’s latest order will guarantee both full-time and part-time federal contract workers an hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, for a total of up to seven days in a year. The workers could use the leave to care for themselves, a member of their family, a domestic partner or another loved one or take the leave to recover from domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.

Officials said it would affect about 300,000 workers who otherwise would not have paid sick leave and grant other workers more days than they would otherwise have. Cecilia Muñoz, the president’s domestic policy adviser, said the rule should not cost taxpayers more because the benefits of a more efficient work force should outweigh any additional expenditures.

The order is based in part on the example of Massachusetts, where voters passed a ballot measure last fall requiring employers to give one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked. Workers in firms with 11 or more employees can earn up to 40 hours of paid sick leave a year, while smaller firms may offer it unpaid.