Minimum wages are not the same in every state. How do we determine what is fair? If you play in CA you get more than you do in FL?
Do it just like any other business would do it when they have employees in various state. I don't see it as needing to be special for baseball. Yes, that means some players will get paid different than others at this lowest level, but this is often reflected in cost of living in the various states or counties.
Imagine the players on Low or High A in an area like Silicon Valley where the lowest rent for a 600SqFt 1B1BA runs around $1,200 mo. Yeah, I know. . . the player can always take the charity of a sponsor family. . .and in this area of CA, that's usually what happens.
Remember, we're really only talking about those players at the very bottom of the pay scale. So, we're not talking about ALL Milb players.
Give me a plan.
Until a player is promoted to the next pay level above what's equivalent to minimum wage level, the player gets paid during regular season AND if playing when ask to play at other times (e.g. Extended Season). It's all really very simple and with the computer systems HR departments have these days, it's a breeze to control.
Unemployment???
As far as I know when teachers are let go, they are "unemployed" in any state and they get unemployment payments. But, if you're referring to the summer breaks as being "unemployed", then I'd say that it's NOT a time for them to receive unemployment money as their salaries should be such that it takes that into consideration. I'm not aware of any full time teacher's salary anywhere that their total annual salary is equal to or less than what 2080 hrs at minimum wage might be.