Just following a thought... they raise prices. Since its the whole (unskilled labor) economy that has this issue, they all simultaneously raise prices. By defin

Just following a thought... they raise prices. Since its the whole (unskilled labor) economy that has this issue, they all simultaneously raise prices. By definition it should be (in general) proportional to the wage increases, and if its for food or services consumed by the poor, they would be right back where they started. But if _some_ of the customers from unskilled labor shops are not minimum wage employees, it gets a bit more interesting. Then its a bit more like a tax. But now only on consumers of said services. That could theoretically mean a relatively higher standard of living for the poor. Personally I"d rather see a general tax targeted towards something beneficial to everyone (but the poor) especially, like universal health care. Then it would at least be directly targeted at the problem, instead of... whatever the actual outcomes of economy wide minimum wage increase would be (I'd bet it would mostly benefit the slightly better off poor and be a detriment to the slightly worse off poor, who companies would probably just let go).