ALAN GREENSPAN AND THE MINIMUM WAGE

Instead of worrying about unemployment and inflation, during his tenure as Fed chairman, Greenspan consistently focused on inflation, to the point of absurdity.   This is from his February 26, 1997 testimony before Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affair:

A continued tight labor market, whose influence on costs would be augmented by the scheduled increase in the minimum wage later in the year and perhaps by higher growth of benefits now that considerable health-care savings already have been realized, could put upward pressure on core inflation.

In fact there was no upward pressure according to this CPI report from March 1998:

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.2 percent in March before seasonal adjustment to a level of 162.2 (1982-84=100), the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. For the 12-month period ended in March, the CPI-U has increased 1.4 percent.

The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) rose 0.1 percent in March, prior to seasonal adjustment. The March 1998 CPI-W level of 158.7 was 1.1 percent higher than the index in March 1997.

The next 12 months weren't much worse:

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.3 percent in March, before seasonal adjustment, to a level of 165.0 (1982- 84=100), the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. For the 12-month period ended in March, the CPI-U has increased 1.7 percent.

The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) rose 0.2 percent in March, prior to seasonal adjustment. The March level of 161.4 was 1.7 percent higher than the index in March 1998.