One could easily imagine a business that only works if they pay employees 50 cents a day. Such a business has no place in a society that respects human dignity.
If your business depends on purchasing a third of someone's waking hours but cannot afford to pay them enough to live securely and comfortably in exchange, then your "business model" depends on poverty to continue.
A McDonalds company help line used to advise their employees on how to apply for foodstamps. McDonalds is one of the largest employers of people who receive Medicaid and food stamps in the US. They've been using the social safety net as a form of government subsidies by the back door for years.
Walmart is especially egregious because the SNAP benefits that subsidize their employees' wages are often being used at Walmart. After all, if you need groceries why not pick them up at the store you work at after your shift?
So not only do they not pay their workers enough by letting taxpayers subsidize wages, some of that taxpayer subsidy goes right into their pockets.
Oh, I just realized what needs to be done. You know how many states come after the families of people who died on Medicaid to get the money back, seizing inheritance and assets? How about instead of that, they start charging businesses for employees being on government assistance? Just straight fine them for every employee who has to be on food stamps, cash assistance, or Medicaid. Idk, 10k/employee/year sounds about right. Then paying them all +9k/year becomes the cheaper option.
If a business cannot afford to pay its employees a living wage, that business is insolvent. What we have currently are a bunch of insolvent businesses that think they aren't insolvent because they've been allowed to pay poverty wages.
Yeah right … it is of course way easier and cheaper to build a hightech food factory in almost every town that is able to create at least a dozen of different dishes than paying the employees 20$ per hour. The technicians that repair those robots will of course also work for less than 20$. /s
If they couldn't even incorporate this technology just for burgers into their restaurants after a decade, what makes you think they can cover the entire menu plus serving these items to customers in just "moments away"?
It’s super variable. Travel nurses in OB at my hospital were making $225 an hour. This was in rural CA where the average nurse made low $100k a year though. Some in red states are still in the $50k range though.