comment: >
  
  They can and they will, if we ever enter a situation where job supply drops and demand increases. Those were the market conditions when I left college. I took a really hard retail sales job and got paid $9.25 plus commission that amounted to a few bucks per month.
  The kicker was that I was actually expected to wear a 3-piece suit. I couldn’t afford dry cleaning on my wage and I had 3 roommates. 
  I don’t expect any job to piss on their employees to this extent in today’s economic climate, but one day mass unemployment will return… and companies will once again start treating us like we’re lucky to have a job at all.
  Enjoy it while the gettin’ is good.
context: The last minimum wage increase phased in over three years, ending in 2009. Democrats lost the House in the 2010 election and didn’t get a trifecta back until 2021. The GOP won’t increase minimum wage. 
  The Fight for $15 movement started in 2012 and achieved notable success in getting states to increase the minimum wage. 
  Covid caused a big shift in the labor market. Workforce participation has gone down and megacorps like Amazon have a virtually unlimited need for labor, so what they offer has increasingly become a defacto minimum wage. >
  
  ... until they take it away because they can. >
  
  Really curious to see if places will actually drop their wages from $10-$15 down to $7.25 (or what the state minimum wage is) during a sustained recession to cut costs and avoid headcount reduction but then say "look, see we didn't have to lay anyone off!"