[kartan]

> Though market forces should generally push unskilled labor wages high enough to be livable

I do not see how the market forces can do that.

In the USA there is a lot of non-livable paying jobs that need to be complemented by public spending. For a person that has nothing, a salary that is not enough to pay for their basic needs is better than nothing. That creates a race to the bottom.

You get the lowest price independently of if people that do the job can make ends meet or not.