English: Governor Mitt Romney of MA

The former Mass. governor wants to link the minimum wage to inflation.

The Associated Press released a story this afternoon that quotes Mitt Romney renewing his support for hiking the federal minimum wage, to keep pace with inflation. “I haven’t changed my thoughts on that,” said the Florida Republican primary winner, when asked about his position on the issue by reporters on his chartered campaign airplane. The AP notes that Romney has supported cost-of-living minimum wage increases for a decade. That contrasts with his Republican rival Newt Gingrich, who told a press conference last week that he would be wary of raising the minimum wage because it could stifle job growth.

As the AP notes, Congress passed the first minimum wage law in 1938 and has voted for raises since, but has never linked it to inflation. The last hike, in 2007, took effect in three stages, the last in 2009, when it reached $7.25 an hour.

Pro-business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business have opposed raising the minimum wage, arguing that it hurts businesses and dampens job creation. Organized labor and most Democrats favor increasing the minimum wage. Economists disagree about the effects of a higher minimum wage on growth and job creation. Studies support both sides of the issue.

At $7.25 an hour, a full-time worker earns $15,000 a year, not far above the 2010 poverty threshold set by the Census Bureau. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have a minimum wage above the federal minimum, as do several cities, including San Francisco, the first spot to set a minimum wage above $10 an hour, at $10.24.

Romney’s stance on the minimum wage sets him apart from his conservative challengers and could win him support in the blue states during the general election.