But that is nothing compared with the increases in Detroit, San Francisco and Houston.
Mark Cooper, the director of research at the Consumer Federation of America in Washington, took issue with the increases.
"The market has lifted it well above the minimum wage even with the increases," Ms. Martins said.
"The landlords' accountants sent out bills with the increases each year, but the bigger tenants didn't buy that.
The change stemmed from Mr. Giuliani's frustration last year with the increases the board allowed, of 4 and 6percentt, instead of the 3 and 5 he wanted.
Even with the increases in production, the institute's index of order backlogs rose, suggesting that factories were not keeping pace with demand.
On the previous occasions, Northwest Airlines refused to go along with the increases, forcing the other airlines to revert to lower prices.
Even with the increases, the number of available jobs is far below the 4.4 million advertised in December 2007, when the recession began.
New Jerseyans knew the second step was coming, and as 2011 ended, Gov. Chris Christie made it clear that he had had nothing to do with the increases.
But he added: "In an ideal world, what we would be doing now is orchestrating the tax credit withdrawal so it goes in step with the increases in wages.
The number of AIDS cases in Washington has increased for the first time since 1993, state epidemiologists reported, with the increases especially pronounced among women and members of minorities.
