Changes in the minimum wage are generally not as beneficial to the economy as is commonly believed. Any increase to the minimum wage smaller than the one proposed would not substantially affect prices of goods and services. The proposed minimum-wage increase would not wholly compensate low-income workers for the resulting increase in prices for goods and services. If raising the minimum wage helped low-income workers, this would be a good reason for raising it.
Columnist: Raising the minimum wage to the level recently proposed will actually hurt, rather than help, workers with low incomes. As the minimum wage increases, businesses must compensate for higher wage costs by increasing prices for the goods and services that low-income workers must buy but can already barely afford.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the columnist's argument depends?