I am in no way defending low wages here, but maybe there's some other factors in the U.S. that are making things harder on workers too? Those being rent, healthcare, and tuition namely. I live in Colorado, and the cheapest apartments are 900 a month, for example. And those are in the ghetto. What reason do these things have to cost so much?
EDIT: This is a much more complicated problem than I first though. Please disregard this post.