Global economic advantage has consequences for human well being in terms of the resources available to dedicate to any such effort by the nation. Of course within the present system the benefits of this are captured by a small portion of the population.
In my opinion the precise value of wages are not the preeminent issue for Americans inasmuch as rent, education, and healthcare costs. Simply raising wages without solving the these issues will result in a substantial portion of the wage increase being consumed by landlords, banks, insurance companies, etc who will raise prices to meet rising wages. The issue is that they have hold over the supply of these resources in a way that allows them to capture an ever increasing portion of economic surplus.
