The alternative is trying to get cheap workers from abroad, which worked quite well in the past and still seems to do well to some extent - if you can accept all the challenges this way of doing business carries along on social/security/national level.

Times are changing, though, and absolute poverty is thankfully not everywhere an issue anymore, which leaves it to relative poverty: I can't afford Netflix => I am poor. In such cases, people are much less likely to do that "shitty not-well-paid job" for long. Selling drugs is much more convenient and profitable, for example. Also, more and more countries are restricting their borders, making it harder for cheap workers from abroad to come and do such jobs.

So, yes, the other alternative is: raise the salary!