When business owners are wealthy, it is clear for the world to see that they could pay more. They don’t have to, but they look stupid and callous when then complaining that people don’t want to work. What they really mean is people see no point in enriching them even further.
Here in NJ the minimum wage increased to $14.13 per hour at midnight; the problem for employer like Home Depot is that if they think they can pay people low wages for a job that involves any physical strain, then they have to beat that salary by A LOT - because if they don’t, people will always accept slightly lower wages for a much less strenuous job that won’t land them in back or shoulder surgery every few years.
When talking heads describe all of the job opening there are, they conveniently ignore what types of jobs they are; for example, here in NJ, there is no shortage of warehouse work - but if you take the job it is only a matter of time before an injury sidelines you (and the older you are, the sooner it happens). In our McJob/strip mall economy today, it is not uncommon to see workers from one business working at a neighboring one the next week; the McJobs are more or less interchangeable, and until last night they all had to pay at least $13/hour.
I hear you. But someone had to say it. Workers are more lazy and entitled these days, if you are in an industry where nothing beyond a GED or HS diploma is required. I see it all the time. I tell my kids you’ve got to do something more than that. A degree, a trade, a certificate, anything.