SAVIDGE: A big surge on Wall Street today. Stocks taking a 250- point jump as worries over Europe's debt crisis apparently have eased, at least for the time being. And on the jobs front, an economics professor is proposing a new way to boost the economy. He says boost minimum wage. Alison Kosik explains from New York. Alison, let's start with the market rally. How's it going?</s>ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And a good way to start, Martin.</s>SAVIDGE: All right. Let's talk about this interesting argument that we should be raising minimum wage. How is that going to help millions of people who don't have jobs?</s>KOSIK: Yes, and this is an interesting argument. Think of it more of like a backdoor idea. It's about giving people more money to spend that will actually boost demand and encourage hiring. So this idea coming from Paul Osterman. He's an economics professor at MIT. He's the author of a book called "Good Jobs in America." And he says, you know what this is about? This is about job quality, it's not about job quantity. We always took about the numbers of jobs being added, but what he says really needs to happen is we need to see good jobs added. So, he says the issue is, 20 percent of working adults make less than $10.65 an hour. Try raising a family on that salary. Full-time employment at that wage is still below the poverty level. And Osterman says minimum wage needs to be raised. But critics say wait a minute here, raising wages puts the burden on corporate America which, remember, is already reluctant to take a chance on hiring new workers. But others, Martin, point to the solid corporate profits. A lot of corporations have a lot of money on the sidelines, they just need the confidence to give more money to their employees through higher wages -- Martin.</s>SAVIDGE: Yes, confidence being the keyword there. Thank you, Alison, very much.</s>KOSIK: It is.
Boosting Pay to Boost Economy