How Do People Survive on the Minimum Wage?

With government assistance:

So how do millions of Americans do it? This statistic helps explain it:

More than half of fast food workers have to rely on public assistance programs since their wages aren't enough to support them, a new report found.
According to a University of California Berkeley Labor Center and University of Illinois study out Tuesday, 52% of families of fast food workers receive assistance from a public program like Medicaid, food stamps, the Earned Income Tax Credit and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. That's compared to 25% of families in the workforce as a whole.
The report estimated that this public aid carries a $7 billion price tag for taxpayers each year

Assuming fast-food workers are good proxy for minimum-wage workers, this actually explains a lot. If it sounds impossible to get by on less than $1,000 a month, that's because it probably is, and most minimum-wage workers don't. They earn a wage that isn't sufficient to support them, and various government assistance programs make up the difference.
Public assistance isn't just for those out of work, down on their luck, or in a short-term bind. It's for those who are gainfully employed but earning such a low wage they can't sustain themselves. Which is to say: The reason fast-food and other low-wage employers can get away with paying so little is because taxpayers subsidize the slack. The report estimates McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) subsidy alone is worth $1.2 billion a year, which equates to more than a fifth of its 2012 profits.

I still remember thinking how stupid it sounded when "Papa John" said it would cost an extra 14 cents a pizza to provide health insurance, that sounded like a pretty good deal.  Would better pay for workers be a pretty good trade off for getting a little less change back on fast food and Walmart purchases?  I'd say so.