When I worked for J.C. Penney in high school they used to give out an annual raise of literally 15 cents an hour if you performed well. The starting pay was minimum wage. However, every time minimum wage increased, people who were making more than minimum did not get a raise unless it was required to bring them to the new minimum wage. There would be people for example who started out at min wage, worked 5 years and got their 15 cent annual raise each year and put them 75 cents an hour above min wage. Then if min wage increased 75 cents an hour, those people who had been there for 5 years and got their annual merit raise for good performance each year were back making minimum wage.