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> you can't be seriously arguing that any increase will force all unskilled labour into unemployment

Why not? If Peter's labor is only worth $X but minimum wage is raised to $X+5, a company can reasonably be expected to fire Peter. Now Peter is out of a job. Should I just take it on your word and evaluate policy based on its purported intent and not on the consequences?

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It cannot fire a guy or it'd have to quit business altogether as others would not be able to keep up. We've seen this problem in multiple cases - most often companies do not have sufficient spare workers to handle even a health issue, much less someone quitting.

You're not evaluating it based on consequences but what you think would be potential consequences.

Instead, run an experiment and see what actually happens. Actually don't, since we already have data that what you describe is not happening.

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