I think you'll find most large chain retailers only pay minimum wage. I don't see that as a problem, since the skill set required to clerk in a store is minimal.

Here in Washington, the minimum wage is $8.55. I believe that is about twice as much as some jobs are worth nowadays.

Note: minimum wage is not a living wage, it is a minimum threshold set by the government for doing any type of work. Some jobs simply do not contribute enough to the economy to merit a living wage. However, the market is required to pay no less than a certain rate no matter what the value of the work really is.

I know business owners who made less than minimum wage for a number of years. When the husband and wife are each putting in 80 to 100 hours a week to build their business, how would that be quantified? Commission sales work can be just as tough in a sagging economy.

Anytime the government has to step in to artifically inflate the value of a product or service, it devalues the rest of the market and you get inflation. In the 47 years I've been around, the minimum wage has never gone down. I wonder why?