There's a housing shortage in many/most metro areas, so rents go up as demand exceeds supply. So far, the demand for minimum wage type labor has not been sever

There's a housing shortage in many/most metro areas, so rents go up as demand exceeds supply. So far, the demand for minimum wage type labor has not been severe enough to raise those wages. My guess is that minimum wage jobs are high turnover, and employers at that level are just used to constantly being in hiring mode. The job of a manager, and a writer of procedure manuals, has probably taken on more of "how to quickly onboard someone into acceptable productivity, and make their hiring worthwhile until they inevitably quit." It may even be cheaper to churn, rather than pay longevity raises and benefits.