What I find important to remember about minimum wage is that it constitutes a restriction on the freedom of workers to negotiate for their labor. The existence of a meaningful minimum wage implies that there are people in the society who desire to negotiate for lower compensation (because they are more motivated to get the job for whatever reason), but they are disallowed from doing so. It might be our opinion that it is undignified or exploitative to work for a certain wage, but we should not have the right to bar others from doing so if they wish.

As individuals, we should demand the freedom to negotiate the terms of our employment without government influence, including wages, benefits, and even working conditions. Using the government to coerce employers into giving greater compensation is appealing in the short term, but ultimately it disenfranchises others by blocking them out of jobs and results in long term economic stagnation.

Mandatory minimum wage significantly above the "natural" level dictated by prevailing economic conditions unquestionably causes harm, mostly to workers who, if they choose to continue to work for less money, are now doing so illegally. Mostly they just don't get work. This is why politicians tend to let minimum wages lapse behind the market rate - economies work better without this restriction. And when a significant minimum wage hike is imposed, like $15/hour in some places today, the economic harm to workers quickly becomes apparent.