There are 152 million Americans with jobs today.
There are 2.6 million of these workers making the minimum wage, or less (federal). So, double it so that I cover all of the states that have higher wages and to be conservative.
What is your explanation for why 96.5% of workers, or about 147 million workers, are paid any more than the minimum?
Most people don’t earn minimum wage because labor in most cases is a perfectly competitive market. Every company is competing to attract the best workers. Everyone would be earning minimum wage if every company was to somehow work as a cartel, or if everyone worked for the same company. Minimum wage workers usually work in industries (i.e fast food chains) which are dominated by few, large corporates.
What is the evidence that fast food chains are somehow monopolies? What are the margins in “fast food?” How elastic is the demand for fast food? Do consumers not have many options in their dining choices?
Finally, what share of “fast food” employees or, for example, Walmart employees, earn the minimum wage?