here's an anecdote.

My kid is 19. He finished high school but is otherwise unskilled.

My kid got hired at Amazon to work in a fulfillment center, paying $15/hr for a 40 hr/wk shift.

The first three months, my son would drive the 21 miles to get there, clock in, and then get sent home 20 minutes in to the shift because there were "too many people" in the building... but they were still hiring.

Then they started calling him before his shift and telling him they were already at capacity. He was getting 2-10 hours per week.

He got paperwork in the mail about health benefits, but never could get enough hours to qualify.

.

then he heard about flex time.

now he logs in to an app every day and picks what shifts he wants. He can have all the shifts he wants. He put in almost 40 last week. He could theoretically work as much as he wants.

Many of those shifts offer an extra $3-5 per hour.

but as a flex employee, he's ineligible for benefits.

.

My kid mentioned that they have some digital signs up that show employee communications. One of the employee signs shows things that have employees have suggested(get some fans, it's too hot, it's too cold, etc). He said every day for weeks there were some complaints about wages.

.

So in the plus column, Amazon is paying 25% higher than our state's minimum wage.

In the minus column, they're a totally disorganized organization that pays just enough to keep people quiet, and seemingly rewards people for not getting additional benefits.