It used temporary wage subsidies to make it easier for cash-strapped firms to keep workers the opposite of the Beecroft fix, but the right one for the times.
Some of the lower-skilled workers who would lose out in a higher-entry-wage environment might be absorbed, off the books, by the cash-in-hand labor market.
Nominal wage inflation remains very low, as companies sit on vast piles of cash but remain reluctant to spend, and there is still a large amount of slack in the U.S. economy, particularly given a stubbornly high rate of unemployment stuck at 9%.