And this is why we need to invest more in infrastructure. Perhaps construction jobs may go away due to tech as well, but probably much later than food service jobs. As for minimum wage, I don't think it should be below poverty levels, period. That is like the government is pretty much allowing poverty to exist, under the false premise that minimum wage jobs are just for teenagers and people with disposable incomes. When I was searching for a job in the city where I used to live in Pennsylvania, all I could find were minimum wage jobs, and I would have to get 3+ jobs just to pay my rent and utilities. That is absolutely ridiculous and that money stress was probably one of the reasons why my depression got so bad. I remember laying in bed wanting to kill myself because I couldn't pay the bills. That shouldn't happen to anyone, let alone someone with 3 jobs. Luckily I am privileged enough to be in college and have good job prospects. But many people in this country are not as lucky and will likely sink into the cycle of poverty that is perpetuated by the (conservative) government's broken and flawed ideology.
So minimum wage increase is near and dear to me. Not increasing the minimum wage to at least the poverty level is like condoning poverty for marginalized and less educated citizens. I agree though with you that I would like to see better unemployment welfare (even though some people don't qualify for unemployment, like me), but since the jobs that pay minimum wage right now aren't being phased out by tech yet, we owe it to the people that work multiple jobs, with families, making minimum wage, a better life and one that doesn't perpetuate the cycle of poverty.
Honestly, this is a very simplistic view of profit margins. You are assuming labor and price are directly correlated. There are plenty of other ways a business can cut costs to account for higher labor costs. Sure, people will argue that one way of cutting costs is to reduce labor. But there are other means as well, including decreasing administrative wages, not giving millions of dollars in bonuses to top executives, investing in renewable energy for their warehouses and factories etc. etc. etc. It is all up to the business, really. All you are doing in your statements is putting all the blame you should be putting on the business for increasing prices so dramatically just because labor cost went up, instead of decreasing costs in other departments, onto the people who make minimum wage.
Also, prices have been increasing regardless of wage increases. It's called corporate greed.
Your perspective is very business-centric, which is expected from a capitalist (I am assuming you are one). Capitalists tend to allow businesses to do whatever they want, without regard to the people that actually make 90% of the businesses work force. Perhaps we should be holding the executives that are making billions of dollars while paying their employees less than poverty level wages more accountable for their actions instead of blaming poor people for not making enough money to survive
