It's always mystifying to me how shortsighted people are who use the term "long term gains".

You know what also happens in the "long term" - cost of labor goes up at the grocery store, cost of labor goes up at the schools, cost of labor goes up for plumbers, gas station attendants, electricians ( you could continue this list forever ).

This means that the "cost of living" rises equally with the "cost of labor".

The only people who are truly helped with minimum wage increases are the sector of people who live within the bottom of the poverty level who already pool together multiple families worth of income just to survive - their lower collective "usury" of "cost of living" does not go up as fast as their increased income - For all else, it's forced inflation.