[toss1]

Generally good in concept that companies should pay enough that a full time job puts people above the poverty line and above eligibility for govt benefits -- anything less means that the companies themselves are effectively freeloading on govt welfare (externalizing their costs to the govt, which makes it tolerable to work at these companies)

Much easier solution is to simply increase minimum wage as required, and probably set it at the locale level (more in the urban/high-cost areas and less in the rural/low-cost areas).

Such specific targeting simply invites companies to game the system.

[didibus]

Ya, I'm not sure why we're nit just talking about raising the minimum wage. I suspect they're worried it would hurt small mom and pop shops who also rely on paying their employees below the poverty line.