[dragonwriter]

> The problem is that the obvious answer ("so workers don't get exploited") isn't very satisfying: there's sort of an inherent barrier to not paying enough, which is competition for workers.

Collusion among employers to keep wages down still happens. The combination of minimum standards plus anti-collusion laws function as a belt-and-suspenders approach to the problem (labor law has other purposes, too; so does anti-collusion law.)

[SilasX]

Sure. I can understand how it happens. But unless you want to list some of those other purposes:

A) That would justify anti-conspiracy countermeasures, not general "you have to pay them more" laws.

B) It would rather dubiously require a conspiracy along the rather huge number of low-skill employers. I can accept a conspiracy between McDonald's and BK, but across numbers indistries and localities?