As per Article 1 Section 1 of the US Constitution, Congress is the legislative body of the government; they are the only ones to make laws in the US. Further Congress has been divided into two sections Senators from each state and house of representatives which has delegates from each state depends on the state population. It will be a violation of the constitution if any other government institution or entity make law in the US.
Raising the minimum wage is a big topic for the government, business community, and economic pundits, there is positive and negative effects of everything we do. In my opinion, Congress should raise the mandatory minimum wage because of: first, it is long overdue and second, there are more there are more advantages than disadvantages. Current federal minimum wage is $7.25 which is lower in real value than in 1956. Moreover, as the majority of minimum wage workers are adult with a family, at this wage, it is impossible to feed their families. With just $7.25 an hour, a worker makes $15,080 per year which much below the federal poverty line for a small family of three. There are few other advantages like a raise in economic stimulus, reduced government expense for social programs. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that raising the national minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour would uplift almost a million people out of poverty line. On the other hand, people have argued a few cons like layoffs, as employers have a limited budget and an increase in minimum wage will impact organizations capability to hire more people or fewer hiring. Higher wages might affect the market price of a product as the employer would like to generate a higher income to support higher salaries.
Save your time!
We can take care of your essay
- Proper editing and formatting
- Free revision, title page, and bibliography
- Flexible prices and money-back guarantee
Individual states can implement their laws and pass their minimum wage law. State minimum can be lower, same or higher than the federal minimum wage. The state can also decide not to have any minimum wage at all. If a state has no minimum wage law or its minimum wage is lower than the federal law, workers are entitled to the federal wage. If a state’s minimum wage is higher than the federal one, workers are entitled to the state-specific wage. Higher minimum wages are more common in states with higher costs of living. Currently, 29 states and the District of Columbia have minimum hourly wages above the federal level of $7.25.
The argument about the minimum wage touches many critical aspects like a person on minimum wage can survive, any contribution towards the economy, dependency on government public policies? According to many religions, for instance, Aristotle and the Catholic church have talked about fair earning in their social teaching. A minimum wage is ethical, if it maintains human rights and dignity, supports the common good, creates right relationships, financial security for all and contributes to the common good which fits in Utilitarianism framework. Catholic society also believes that organizations have the ethical duty towards their employees to build up the right associations with their workers by paying living wages. The Utilitarianism framework resonates with me considering the overall economic advantage of paying living wages, which in return increased productivity, quality, and innovation all of which add to enormous profits for both employer and employee - thereby contributing to the common good.
Stuck on your essay?
