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】When the increase in the minimum wage rate went into effect, the retailer also raised the age rate for employees who had been earning just above minimum wage.