Clinton Will Seek Minimum Wage Hike to $5.15 an Hour, Officials Say

President Clinton and Democratic members of Congress will propose raising the $4.25 hourly minimum wage to $5.15 over two years, congressional officials said Thursday.

They said Clinton and the lawmakers would announce their proposal for the 90-cent increase at a White House Rose Garden ceremony today.

In his State of the Union Address last week, Clinton called for an unspecified increase in the minimum wage, saying that by next year the present minimum would be at a 40-year low in terms of buying power.

He also noted that members of Congress made more money in a month than a minimum wage earner makes all year.

Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich told reporters the next day that the President favored a 75-cent increase over two years. But sources familiar with the proposal to be unveiled today said it would call for a 90-cent increase in two 45-cent installments.

About 10 million people, roughly 10% of the labor force, would be directly or indirectly affected by minimum wage increases.

Republican opponents of an increase, including House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Tex.), say raising the minimum would destroy jobs, but Clinton took issue with that argument in his State of the Union speech.

“I believe the weight of the evidence is that a modest increase does not cost jobs and may even lure people back into the job market. But the most important thing is, you can’t make a living on $4.25 an hour,” he said.

White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry told a news briefing Thursday that Clinton had consulted with Congress and hoped to have bipartisan support for his proposal, but he would not say which Republicans might back it.