1, could I get a two-paragraph response for this discussion post

A current labor issue in today's society is the minimum wage and the wage that some companies are paying their workers. The cost of living is always rising and with recent inflation it is going up even higher. The federal minimum wage has not changed since 2009 when it was raised to 7.25 and that is below the poverty line even for someone who works full time. Some companies may have a a hard time getting workers when they are charging 7.25 and if they do get workers the likelihood they will stay with the company is not as high compared to a company that pays more.

Unions can try and leverage this as a reason to raise the pay to keep up with cost of living. Not all companies have unions to protect worker interest and not all companies want to raise there pay as profit will fall if this is the case. Another issue is that raising the pay for workers will close down jobs and make companies look for other places and ways to find the same amount of labor. From outsourcing work to even automating it like self checkout kiosk at grocery stores so they can lower the amount of labor to pay for.