[dalbasal]

I would really like to see a middle ground here.

There's good evidence that minimum wages can be used to nudge up bottom tier salaries without very much impact on employment rates. For use-cases that tend to suffer most (eg youth employment), most EU countries have exemptions.

Labour laws which try to force longevity come with some costs that aren't very easily mitigated. "At-will" employment sounds very aggressive but forced employment sounds bad too.

I think compensation packages (based on years in employment) should replace no-firing laws. This will keep a softer incentive in place, but avoid making hiring people so risky.