> The only way higher wages lead to more candidates is by taking them away from other companies or other industries, and sometimes from other countries. So that is sometimes an option for certain employers, but not for an entire industry. It's a myth that there is a pool of workers who is "underemployed" because of low wages.

But that's only true in the short term.

> In a free market, if companies can earn more profits by hiring more people by offering higher wages, they will do so.

But we're not in a truly free market, are we? And we've already seen huge tech companies band together to keep profits artificially low. And that's just the one's that got caught.

> But increasing wages also reduces profit, and there just may not be enough room in the margins.

Corporate profits are at an all time high, and have been for quite some time. We're paying C-level executives insane amounts of money. Profit margins are surely not the issue here.