In Business This Week

THE MINIMUM WAGE MAY GET A BOOST

The Clinton Administration's plans to raise the minimum wage are getting richer. Labor Secretary Robert Reich said on Oct. 12 that the wage could go to $4.75 an hour with "no negative employment effects whatsoever." The 50 hike is twice what Reich proposed in a memo to the White House earlier this year. But the Labor chief left himself an out, suggesting that some of the hike could be in the form of mandated health-care coverage.EDITED BY KEITH H. HAMMONDS