although I'm sure that there's some accounting tricks that get them below minimum wage, if most of your workforce is at minimum wage and unable to afford good food and housing then they won't be effective taxpayers.
Theyre minimum wage, unless theyre getting money under the table, which they arent (unless theyre gig workers)
Its less about them taking less of a salary, and more that they are willing to take zero hour contracts, 24/7 shift availability with one days notice, etc.
Imagine this. You take a job at timmies. You do not have a set schedule, it changes every week. Tomorrow, you may have an overnight shift or you may not, you don't know, noone knows, maybe your manager does, but its actually set from above by some robot.
Even when I was 16 and had my first McJob at dominos, we didnt have conditions like this.
But, those are the working conditions that theyre willing to take on.
Its not a way to lower salaries, insomuch as its a way to erode and chip at labour conditions and rights. Also notice that the rise in not actually getting hired by companies, but
contract jobs with zero job protection, furlough, benefits, etc also coincides with this.