Facepalm

In my experience dealing with these sorts of people trying to to justify this argument, it's a combination of:

1. These are not supposed to be permanent jobs for anyone, i.e. only high school and college students should work them.

2. These are jobs that should be worked by >!non-white!< people who are comfortable with lower standards of living.

3. You should work a second job to supplement your income if you aren't earning enough.

For #1, they believe that because they (or people they know) treated lower paying jobs as a foot in the door/stepping stone at a time in their lives where they had a social safety net looking out for them, then everyone else can do that, too.

For #2, they believe that there are people who don't need to live well and are okay with that. Typically this comes down to racial distinctions and the idea that non-whites must love poverty because so many of them live in it.

For #3, they'll dig up some anecdote about some random family member in the past who used to work two jobs where they had to walk uphill both ways there and back and that's what a real work ethic looks like, then go off on a tangent about how people today are just too damn lazy.