Good points Craig and while we're on the subject of psychological effects it's worth considering what kind of message we're sending school kids by artificially increasing the value of unskilled work like this. What possible effect would telling a borderline student "hey you can make a decent living flipping burgers" have on his or her motivation to stay in school?

I think it has to be remembered that society is becoming more and more technologically advanced and the skills required to run it are becoming more and more advanced. Therefore, value being a relative measure between things, the value of unskilled labor is going to continue to fall. You can't escape this with legislation. A person is going to have to equip themselves with a technological skill set in order to make a decent living. Those who don't learn these new skills will ultimately be left behind. There will always be unskilled work, but it will be in the form of entry level positions for young applicants who are new to the job market, not "jobs for life." I don't expect anyone to walk dogs for more than a year or so, it's not a career, and I've always been happy for employees who have told me they're moving on to go to college or because they've landed their dream job or whatnot. Meanwhile, they've gained some valuable work experience and an excellent reference (I will always give glowing reviews to a good employee when called by their next employer). But what the job will never be is a lifelong career to support a family and buy houses and cars etc.

It's adamant that people develop the new skill set required by a technological world. I've often heard the argument "but if everyone has those skills the there's going to be more competition for technological jobs." Well yes, but on the other hand if those skills were more commonplace then you'd also have more people innovating, starting their own businesses and creating more good jobs to begin with. Put it this way, we're not going to compete with Asia by elevating burger flipping to the level of a good solid family-raising career.

craigb
I just thought of this...  We've lost a LOT of jobs to immigrants already who are willing to work longer and harder for less.  Can you imagine what they must think when they find out they can make a virtual fortune (relatively speaking) just for doing the lowest level jobs?  We could get flooded with more coming over...

Without wishing to harp on about it, I see that happening right on my doorstep and I completely respect the immigrants for doing it.
 
The Hungarian woman who helps me on Saturdays is earning 3 times what she could at home for cleaning a rich man's house all week. She's a qualified nurse and speaks 3 languages. Her boyfriend and several other Magyars work 7.30am - 6.00pm Monday to Friday and 7.30 - 1pm on Saturdays for a local engineering company and they outwork the local guys to such an extent that the company owner now employs almost all Eastern Europeans. Their work ethic is undeniable.
 
There are many here who bang on about them 'coming over here, taking our jobs', but the fact is, employers here are struggling to find anyone to DO those jobs so the immigrants are stepping in, and fair play to them for doing it.
 
Ironically, I never hear anyone moaning about Brits going to the Middle East and earning a fortune for laying pipelines...