Fuel and fringes.(payroll news and views)(Brief article)

With prices steadily rising for the better part of a year now, the cost of gasoline is certainly not "news." But here are two new angles worth noting:

The Center for American Progress is citing high gas prices as a reason the federal minimum wage should be raised. The Center reports that in 2001, an employee earning the minimum wage ($5.15 an hour) had to work 5.5 hours to pay for a single tank of gas. But in April 2005, that same worker had to put in 11.2 hours to pay for a tank of gas. That's figured at straight time rates, so the overtime premium could mean a single (albeit long) day would cover the cost. However, those statistics were computed before the …