*SMLR-Net, the source of selected news on labor and employment relations and human resource management** * Title:* *Raising Minimum Wage Would Ease Income Gap but Carries Political Risks Date: Feb. 12, 2013 Source: Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) Author: Dean Baker and Will Kimball

*Summary: *In his State of the Union address to Congress President Obama called for a higher minimum wage. The purchasing power of the minimum wage peaked in the late 1960s at $9.22 an hour in 2012 dollars. That is almost two dollars above the current level of $7.25 an hour. Most of the efforts to raise the minimum wage focus on restoring its purchasing power to its late 1960s level, setting a target of around $10 an hour for 2015 or 2016, when inflation will have brought this sum closer to its previous peak in 2012 dollars.

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