For the lazy and refuse to think through these things beyond (people need a living wage), the purpose of starting/running a business is to make profit. Not hire people. Machines like self-checkout have a high capital cost that can be higher than than that of humans. When the cost of human labor is artificially increased it changes the calculation and in some situations a machine becomes the better economic choice. Machines also don't sue you and usually don't back talk you.

I've watched this happen in the Agricultural world that surrounds me for years. As labor costs rise machines and automation become more viable as alternatives. The risk of initial investment vs. that status quo is reduced.

You see, politicians are incentivized by popularity. Not economic efficiency or profit. So often politicians do things in their interest with no thought of the second order consequences. They simply care about the perception. Not the outcomes.

A society based solely on economics is not a thing. Don't get me wrong. Many time anarchists are bad at explaining this. You need a social/moral layer but the political mechanism used in the US has many flaws and this is one of them.