This comment just rubbed me the wrong way...

[fleabiscuit]

104. Doh!

The minimum wage has nothing to do with it. That “$8/hr premium” is an arbitrary number, not tied to the minimum wage. Why would it be? That makes no more sense than ‘raising the minimum wage brings everyone else down.’ Yet they are exactly the same argument.

Workers are a resource and hired for the least amount companies can pay someone skilled enough to do the job. Unless the particular company feels some kind of community obligation. As for inflation, my old mill also paid forklift drivers $15-$16 dollars an hour. Back in 1987. Then closed two years later from depleting their raw materials. Even professional occupations are under assault by the wage hammer. From programmers, to airline pilots, to teachers, to welders, most everyone is being hired in new at lower wages. It’s sad, they have people going at the throats of anyone making more than them AND the poor on the street corners. WTF is with that!