题目选项分析

A discount retailer of basic household necessities employs thousands of people and pays most of them at the minimum wage rate. Yet following a federally mandated increase of the minimum wage rate that increasedthe retailer's operating costs considerably, the retailer's profits increased markedly.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent paradox?

【选项】The retailer's operating costs, other than wages, increased substantially after the increase in the minimum wage rate went into effect.