Ordinary people do not benefit from the minimum wage, they suffer from it, it's just the costs are hidden.
To compensate for the loss of profits, compaines raise the prices of their goods and services (an effect made worse by inflation), employ fewer people, and give fewer or smaller bonuses/payrises.
Let's assume a company has 10 minimum-wage workers for an total hourly cost of £60.80 (£6.08 × 10). If the minimum wage is raised another £0.70, that would raise the company's labour costs to £67.80 per hour. The problem is that, all things equal, the budget only allows for £60.80/hour. The easiest thing to do in this situation is to reduce the number of people employed to 9, which would put the total hourly cost at £54.72 (£6.08 × 9), under the allotted amount of £60.80. This is not to say that increasing the minimum wage will
automatically lead to increased unemployment. What it does do, however, is add one more strain on businesses.
Another effect of the minimum wage is to reduce the availability of on-the-job training, since more resources are required simply to hire and retain a workforce. Far from increasing opportunities for the working poor, a minimum wage actually restricts their mobility.
Yet another effect is that firms faced with minimum wage laws often substitute skilled for unskilled labor. In a
report for the Show-Me Institute, labour economist David Neumark offers an illustrative example: Suppose that a job can be done by either three unskilled workers or two skilled workers. If the unskilled wage is £5 per hour and the skilled wage is £8 per hour, the firm will use unskilled labor and produce the output at a cost of £15. However, if we impose a minimum wage to £6 per hour, the firm will instead use two skilled workers and produce for £16 as opposed to the £18 cost of using unskilled workers. In the "official data" this shows up as a small job loss — in this case, only one job — but we see an increase in average wages to eight pounds per hour in spite of the fact that the least skilled workers are now unemployed.
If a lack of incentive to work due to generous benefits is a concern, the solution is to lower benefits (and ultimately I would support getting rid of them altogether).
Advocates of higher minimum wages are often motivated by the purest of concerns for the poor. However, the minimum wage has been described as a "maximum folly" by many economists for many years because it hurts precisely the people who most desperately need help.