Look at it this way:no wage rises for workers, cost of living...

Look at it this way:

no wage rises for workers, cost of living has been going up, consequence: workers can't afford to spend as much as before. Result: businesses suffer from lower sales, they start to sack workers for "slow economy", and further consequence: even lower spending from workers, it becomes a vicious cycle.

Businesses and workers are mutually dependent on each other. If there are no workers, ultimately there won't be any businesses as businesses need people as workers and workers as consumers.

Hope that makes sense.