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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's push for a $15 minimum wage has put him in the cross-hairs.
The Employment Policies Institute, a conservative think tank, is running a full-page attack ad in the New York Post on Tuesday with the headline: "What's bigger than Bill de Blasio's Ego? New York's youth unemployment crisis."
The ad argues that "economic research and real-life stories make clear that [a $15 minimum wage] would be devastating for less-skilled jobseekers around the country - including the 32% of young adults in New York City who want a job and can't get hired at the current minimum wage." The ad has a picture of a young black woman.
De Blasio's press office fired back with its own attack on Richard Berman, the executive director of the group that placed the ad. Berman has a public relations and lobbying firm which has worked for the restaurant industry. De Blasio spokesman Peter Kadushin said Berman has made millions doing that work.
Related: Will Hillary Clinton support a $15 minimum wage?
"Raising the minimum wage will help create opportunity, lift New Yorkers making just $8.75 an hour out of poverty, and move New York's economy forward," said Kadushin.
The Employment Policies Institute has argued against a minimum wage of any level, and has been particularly active arguing against increases in the minimum wage that have been approved by various states and cities.
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The federal minimum wage is $7.25 and hour, while New York State's is $8.75 an hour, and due to rise to $9 next year. The Obama administration is proposing a national minimum wage of $10.10 an hour, while de Blasio is pushing for a New York rate nearly 50% higher than that.
Despite the claims in the ad, there is conflicting economic research on whether or not raising the minimum wage causes unemployment to rise.