They article picked 1985 as the start date. The 80's and 90's saw a hedge fund boom, so it's not surprising that pay followed, and there was a shortage of people able to do that specialized work.
Minimum wage is a price floor that mostly applies to unskilled labor.
It does point out disparities, but minimum wage not tracking CPI and whether minimum wage is and appropriate and effective policy tool are more interesting discussions. Or on the Wall Street side, does the incentive structure serve shareholders' best interests and the best interest of the financial system. The comparison makes for good rhetoric, but they actual causes are very different, so it just makes intelligent debate harder.
There is a psychological component to minimum wages though. A small increase every year would cause companies to renegotiate salaries frequently. A sudden increase will definitively cause underemployment.