I wish I could still edit my comment. Instead I have to revise and extend. I think there’s a disconnect between the phrase “what someone deserves” and “what so

I wish I could still edit my comment. Instead I have to revise and extend. I think there’s a disconnect between the phrase “what someone deserves” and “what someone is worth [to a company].” Yes, because you are human, you have intrinsic value and can even claim you deserve certain things. Whether there’s some cosmic guarantee that you will get what you deserve is beside my point. But your value to a company as their employee can be given a measurable number. It probably has more to do with my age than with the job itself, but I actually enjoyed the minimum wage jobs that I took when I was younger. Even today, when I see a “help wanted” sign at the kind of place I would have worked as a teenager or young adult, I reminisce about those jobs. But I never apply, because my value to them has a hard limit: they aren’t going to pay me more than the market price to keep the store clean, count back change, and provide good customer service. I’m not significantly better at those jobs than the average teenager. My knowledge of C++, C#, web services, databases, UI design, etc. has no value to them, although it has value to many other companies. I would never expect them to pay me more than my value to them. I’m happy that Amazon has changed its pay scales. But this change will involve laying off people who are profitable at, say, $8/hour or $10/hour but not $15/hour. That’s how the world works. Today, those employees can find other jobs at $8/hour or $10/hour. They may even get a raise. But if minimum wage is increased to $15/hour, they could find themselves priced out of the market.