Many arguments over ‘minimum wage’ are actually about money

Like the cost of food, the price of personal labour is a function of supply and demand. The value of personal labour is related to its price.<br><br>When you get paid enough money to buy food and shelter, you are receiving a wage commensurate with the value of your labour. If you can’t get paid enough to buy food and shelter, it’s either because your labour is worth less than that to the economy, because it’s expensive to live where you are, or both.<br><br>When people complain that the minimum wage isn’t enough to live, they’re often expressing frustration at the price of food and shelter more than the price of labour. ‘Minimum wage’ is often a shorthand way of expressing this frustration. <br><br>For example, if a warehouse worker in a state with a low cost of living makes $15/h, perhaps that’s enough to live on. But if a warehouse worker in a state with a high cost of living only makes $15, they can’t afford food and shelter. What they really want, is higher wages or a more affordable place to live. They need more money, but they only have one job, so they only really get frustrated at that one job’s wages.