Once upon a time there were these pro democrat trade unions in America's industrial centers. Like most Democrats, they were racist, but back then they didn't even try to hide it and they were all white. These trade union members were highly trained and skilled, but they still had job insecurities. Why? Well, it turns out that the unskilled and untrained black workers were willing to do the same work for 28 cents on the dollar. With that kind of savings on pay, it was worth it for companies to take a risk and give them an opportunity, because even though they were not as skilled, they were way less expensive, making the risk of hiring them worth it. So the democrat racist trade unions came up with a plan. The plan was to petition the state legislature to create a wage floor, a minimum wage, just high enough to fuck the black workers out of the workforce, and lock in their cartel. The democrat legislatures didn't try to hide their racism back then either, they stood up on the floor of the NY state legislature and declared that we need a wage floor to protect out white workers. It's on the public record. Before passing this "wage floor" law, black unemployment was about the same as white unemployment, but ever since then black unemployment and white unemployment has never been the same, especially for black male teens. Of course, today they pretend to not be racist, and have all these government programs to "help" black youth, but like most democrat programs, they don't work worth a fuck and nobody really gives a fuck and nobody wants to solve the core problem, the minimum wage.

In sum, the minimum wage never was about a living wage, or protecting low wage workers, but about racism, fucking people out of getting their foot in the door for a job, favoring cartels over private individuals, and favoring high cost urban areas over less expensive rural areas.

Don't believe me? Search online for the "racist history of the minimum wage" especially the writings of Thomas Sowell. The truth is everywhere once you look for it.