Bloomberg Endorses Plan to Raise State's Minimum Wage Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, saying that wages for the poorest New Yorkers had not kept up with rising consumer costs, endorsed a proposal on Thursday by the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, to increase the state's minimum wage above the federal level of $7.25 an hour. "The genius of the free market is not always perfect," the mayor said in his annual State of the City speech, delivered at Morris High School in the Bronx. Noting that two of New York's neighbors had recently raised their hourly minimum wage - Connecticut to $8.25, Massachusetts to $8 - he said that he would support doing the same in New York. "While we would prefer the federal government to act to keep us competitive, this year we will join Speaker Shelly Silver in pushing for a responsible raise in the minimum wage," he said. Mr. Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, announced his proposal in a brief speech before Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's State of the State address last week. He has not yet introduced legislation, but he is expected to call for the hourly minimum wage to be increased to at least $8.25 and be indexed to inflation. The governor, also a Democrat, has supported increasing the minimum wage in the past, but has not commented on Mr. Silver's call for an increase this year. "We'll review any proposal that is made," Mr. Cuomo's spokesman, Josh Vlasto, said Thursday. The Senate majority leader, Dean G. Skelos, a Long Island Republican, has not yet taken a position on the issue. Mr. Silver and other advocates of raising the minimum wage embraced the mayor's comments. "I applaud and thank Mayor Bloomberg for joining our call to increase the minimum wage," Mr. Silver said in a statement. And Christine Owens, the executive director of the National Employment Law Project, a nonprofit organization focused on increasing economic opportunity, said, "Mayor Bloomberg's statement is a welcome recognition that a strong minimum wage will help boost consumer demand and spur economic recovery." Business groups, however, expressed reservations. A spokesman for the Business Council of New York State, Robert Lillpopp, said raising the minimum wage "would only hurt New York's small businesses, farms and not-for-profits that are struggling to make their current payrolls, and reduce job opportunities in an already difficult economy." Kathryn Wylde, the president of the Partnership for New York City, a network of business leaders, said the partnership had supported an increase in the minimum wage several years ago and "would consider another increase, but only after understanding the implications for the entire state economy." One City Council member, Annabel Palma of the Bronx, saw Mr. Bloomberg's support for increasing the minimum wage as a poor substitute for endorsing the so-called living wage bill currently before the Council, which would raise wages for workers in city-subsidized developments to $10 an hour with benefits, or $11.50 an hour without benefits. Mr. Bloomberg has said that the measure would hinder development and is expected to veto the bill if it is passed by the Council. In a statement, Ms. Palma said, "If the mayor wants to really get serious about fighting poverty and creating sustainable economic development, he should propose actionable plans at the city level," including "dropping his opposition to the living wage." New Jersey may also soon raise its minimum wage. The speaker of the State Assembly, Sheila Oliver, said this week that she would push to raise the state's minimum wage to $8.50 from $7.25. Patrick McGeehan contributed reporting.