A DEBATE

A week ago today House-Senate conferees in the United States agreed on legislation raising the minimum wage from the current $3.35 an hour to $4.55 an hour by October 1991. If finally passed by Congress, the bill faces a possible veto by President Bush. The President favors an increase to $4.25 an hour by the end of 1991. He also differs with the Congress-passed bill on details of a subminimum training wage for the first several months on a new job.

Economists differ widely in their judgment of the impact of a boost on the economy and on the job market. Here are two widely different views by academic economists.