The minimum wage for a job should afford the standard of living that you would require to do the job
This isn't a policy proposal since it relies on individual preferences, but more of a mental framework when talking about minimum and living wage.
Let's start with the premise: Employment is an agreement in which workers provide their time in effort in exchange for a wage, so that employers can generate revenue from the results of the labor. I'm excluding useless jobs (i.e. making mudpies) and volunteering from this argument.
Corollary 1: A job that an employer needs to be done in order to generate revenue is a job that warrants paying a certain wage for.
Corollary 2: The goal of getting a wage, for the worker, is to afford a certain standard of living.
Corollary 3: There is no such thing as a "starter job" or a "teenager's job" in the context of full time work. Anyone performing any job full time still has the same basic needs for their standard of living.
Conclusion: If you believe that a corporation or employer provides useful goods and services, then the workers who provide those goods or perform those services must be paid enough to afford all their necessary living costs while doing this job.
Now the questions become:
- Before you deride people who want a living wage for a given job, what wage and standard of living would you honestly accept to do that job?
- What is the minimum you would be willing to live on, indefinitely, while you did it?
- And what compromises would you be willing to make, for your long-term health or retirement, for this job?
- If you have answered that honestly, for yourself, how would you rationalize demanding that someone else do that job for less?
EDIT: So far I'm seeing almost no answers to the questions as asked.