That's a nice way of thinking about labour intensive business models. But look at it from a different perspective: A bunch of jobs can theoretically be automat

That's a nice way of thinking about labour intensive business models. But look at it from a different perspective: A bunch of jobs can theoretically be automated or otherwise designed to require no individual human to do the job. Some jobs can't be automated but aren't really necessary either; the total value add for society is quite low, and it is not necessary (defining 'necessary' as: If nobody does it, some good or service price will skyrocket and soon the wage for this job will go up considerably, possibly via a workaround, such as pressuring government to increase a budget for something). Minimum wage (or, at least, that 'baseline quality of life and benefits' you mentioned, which includes more than just a wage, but also working conditions and safety) is society's baseline for: Below this line, automate it, and if you can't, don't. One argument is that you should let each individual choose for themselves what job is beneath them, but it's not actually a fully free market unless you go out, find homeless people and shoot them, or, when someone breaks out their back doing low-pay menial work, that we just let them wallow in pain. Which no sane society ever would or should, which highlights that we don't treat fellow humans as cattle. If they are a drag on society and it costs society considerable resources just to support them.. society does pay that cost, or ought to. The flipside of that is the existence of jobs which are 'net negative' value for society: The cost of supporting the human that does it will, in the long run, cost more than the job gives society. However, because more or less by design there are externalities involved in caring for our fellow humans, the job may seem net-positive to an employer even if it is not. Society is nevertheless attempting to make sure these jobs do not exist. Minimum wage is, perhaps, a very blunt instrument to make this happen. One can imagine a completely 'safe' job (both mentally and physically) that pays half of minimum wage, and that would be better to allow that if you combine it with a social safety net _and_ the job unemployment rate is sufficient that the only real alternative is no job at all. But I don't think it is feasible to legislate a complicated 'chart' matching working conditions against allowed minimal salaries.