Attack firms he accuses of keeping "far too many people stuck in minimum-wage jobs"

Jeez, if even he's saying it...

It is not going to happen. If your company is thriving why pay more when they can always recruit more minimum wage bods? Until there are skill shortages there is no need to pay more. Then there ill be an influx of skilled EU immigrants who will come if there are higher paid jobs. There will always be more unemployed that could be recruited at minimum wages, needing in work benefits top survive. Also the general philosophy is to pay more according to productivity, and there has been a huge productivity gap since the recession started and we have still not recovered that shortfall. Companies could also train their staff to fulfil higher paid roles but they prefer to free ride on someone else paying for the training. If employees paid for it they could end up with training debts for a skill that is no longer needed. It is a sound bite but nothing more.