> I wonder what the USA would look like if minimum wage was defined as; two people being able to afford a 1 bedroom apartment within a 1 hour drive without traffic.
More labor being "outsourced" to cheap counties, for one. Rather than a restaurant making meals on site, they'll do most of the prep work 50 miles away where the CoL (and minimum wage) is cheap and truck it in.
I'm pretty sure any restaurant in the United States that prepares meals on site does so because that's a crucial part of the product they're offering, not because it's cheaper to prepare the meals on site.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be better for the environment if all the produce is delivered in one trip, verse the environmental cost of 50 employees driving 100 miles / day? I'm assuming the LCOL employees live close to the factory.
More labor being "outsourced" to cheap counties, for one. Rather than a restaurant making meals on site, they'll do most of the prep work 50 miles away where the CoL (and minimum wage) is cheap and truck it in.