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Obama's executive actions are part of his drive to act on his own when Congress stalls on his policy initiatives. The executive order and the presidential memorandum to the Labor Department are his latest directives on wages, pay disparities and hiring targeting the federal government's vast array of contractors and subcontractors.

The National Labor Relations Board and some federal courts already have said that company pay secrecy rules are prohibited under the National Labor Relations Act. But cases against violators can only be brought by the NLRB on the basis of a complaint. The Senate bill, however, would spell out the prohibition and allow private lawsuits, which could be more financially penalizing than NLRB action.

Obama's executive order could serve as a stricter enforcement tool, said Jeffrey Hirsch, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Hirsch, a former lawyer with the National Labor Relations Board, said such an order also would make federal contractors more aware of the prohibition and "more concerned with the outcome of not getting a contract rather than facing an NLRB case, which has very weak remedies."

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White House economist Betsey Stevenson said that directing the Labor Department to compile aggregate compensation data by race and gender could encourage companies to voluntarily close any gaps in their pay, and would "allow for more efficient enforcement when enforcement needs to occur."

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation and 22 other business groups sent a letter to Senate leaders Friday stating their opposition to the Senate bill. They said it could outlaw some ways companies set salaries, such as paying more for professional experience or hazardous work, and entitle workers suing their employers to exorbitant penalties.

Census Bureau figures show that the annual earnings of women was 77 percent of what men earned in 2012, a difference that has barely budged over the past decade.

When measured by hourly earnings, that difference is a narrower 86 percent, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The larger gap is in part because women tend to work fewer hours than men and because the annual figures includes items omitted from the hourly data, including tips and bonuses.

Even as Obama prepared to take steps to close the compensation gender gap, White House spokesman Jay Carney defended differences in pay at the White House. An analysis of staff salaries done last fall by the conservative American Enterprise Institute found the president's female aides were paid 88 cents for every dollar paid to men, about $65,000 to $73,729 annually.

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Obama targets gender pay gap