I’d be very interested in tying minimum wage increases to inflation and possibly cost of living, but not by going back many years.
Beyond that, I’d like unskilled labor to remain low cost. If you want to make a living wage and raise a family you should specialize in a skill or receive training and education for a career.
steinman we agree on a lot, but I disagree with you on this. The underlying problem is (essentially) infinite supply of unskilled labour. That leads to the abuses we see of such people, and the rock-bottom wages. When they need people, they pay them. If they can get 10 more off of the street, they will pay the minimum necessary by law.
And your suggestion doesn't work, because if minimum wage means you need to work 16 hour days, every day, JUST TO GET BY, it's
impossible to become more skilled. There's literally not any more hours left in the day. So it's more of a false blame thing, than an actual path out of unskilled work, because it's held out as a "if you just worked harder via getting education as well, you wouldn't be in this situation." Because of no hours available (and NO MONEY to fund such an education) you're still just as trapped.
So the root problem is too much unskilled labour, and IMO you're not going to train enough people out of it to make a difference as long as you have infinite immigration (legal and otherwise). Given the unwillingness to pursue solutions to the root cause (supporting cutting immigration is the fastest way to get accused of being a racist/nazi/trump sub-human scum), the "next-best" is a decent living wage IMO. Part-time work is fine, but anything more than 40 hours should be unnecessary (except in very exceptional (those words have the same root for a reason) circumstances) and is harmful towards your other suggestions (education) for reducing the supply.
This is an easier problem in Canada given universal healthcare (it sucks, but it's universal). Your "employer insurance" problem throws a wrench into this, but the living wage itself still holds up as "a good idea" IMO for both of our countries (and others besides as well), and given that I started this current conversation talking about increases in Ontario, in Canada, your USA complications is your problem, not mine. My theory still holds up in this country.