Washington (AFP) – Fast-food employees in Manhattan demonstrating for a wage of $20 an hour: a demand unthinkable before the Covid-19 pandemic has become unexceptional, as short-handed companies offer big wage increases without, however, doing much to narrow a yawning income gap. The upward wage pressure has come from several sources, including an unusually tight labor market and child-care challenges linked to the pandemic, as well as chronically underpaid workers unwilling to return to pre-pandemic conditions. Employers have not only had to raise wages but in some cases have offered improved…