> 1. These are the same jobs that millions of Americans who are not dependents of others also have, because not everyone has the ability to work other jobs. The vast majority of minimum wage workers are adults.
[per Claude] # of full time adult workers working for minimum wage: 29,000 (of 60.4m). 338,000 work at below minimum wage, but they are tipped.
> 3. With a $7.25 federal minimum young people are still falling out of the workforce. The reason this is happening is not too high of wages, if anything it is the opposite
My own theory is that the baseline affluence of modern US life is so high, there's no impulse to earn money. Who needs a car or gas money if you're doing fine at home? They're starting out at Maslow level 6.