And that is the key.
My current place of employment is losing out to another company that pays more. The response? Call the other company and suggest it lower its starting wages. Hints of using political pressure against them (though I doubt that will work), and calls to the local and state government for tax breaks.
If you suggest as a manager that you increase the pay of anyone below E Class managers, you will be laughed out the door. The only price that is able to be changes is wages, and with massive pressure to cut costs that is where all the pressure goes. The drop in employment is not just because of automation.
Your post illustrates why I refer to my local business rag as the Pittsburgh Communist Business Times. Page after page, issue after issue, filled with supposed CEO’s and entrepreneurs, each one of them whining that “The government isn’t doing enough for ME!!!”
Americans haven’t had a raise in 20 years. So boo hoo on Corporate America.