The Impact of Equal Pay on the US Economy
The US economy, like any other, is dependent on a number of factors in order to thrive. Having said that, it is also important to recognize that it is one of the world’s largest economies. Whatever the above may be, it has been impacted by various challenges over time, and while the most of them have been resolved, there are others that have yet to be. Equal pay is a prime example of a problem hurting the US economy. According to the National Women’s Law Center, a working American woman earns only 80 cents for every dollar earned by a man. The gap further widens for women of color and it has existed for the longest time ever. Therefore, equal pay is an economic issue that has been debated on given the circumstances that women are entitled to the same amount of salaries and wages as men for the same amount of input they render to different industries.
Competing Views on Equal Pay
The issue with equal pay is that even though it also has an ethical stand to it, it often raises competing solutions. On one hand, it is the perspective for most people that it is about time women were paid the same as men thus Federal laws should apply. This is because they tend to have the same skills, experiences, and educational knowledge to make them equal competitors for jobs and thus salaries should be competitive as well (Campbell). Furthermore, the Federal government already enacted an Act against pay discrimination as affecting women. The opposing side takes on the notion that the issues should be left allow for it to play out given the prevailing circumstances. Campbell explains that the inactive call as a solution looks at gender as not the only requirement for recruitment and competitive salary. Other aspects such as skills and experience need to be the basis for payment.
The Role of the Federal Government
Given the above, the most preferable will have to be the implementation of Federal laws. In 2015, a U.S. Magistrate ruled that it was inherently discriminating to pay women based on what their predecessor employers paid them. In addition to this, the Federal equal pay laws will help develop an environment where every employer has to respect the pay system. If the latter was to be picked as the solution, it would only mean that a few will benefit from it. This is more so true from a local government perspective where it is the responsibility of the latter to be innovative in encouraging employers to adopt the equal pay strategy. Frye further explains that the State government is also in a position to address the issue by providing grants to encourage equal pay, especially for women.
The Influence of the Federal Government
Therefore, it can be concluded that the U.S. Federal government has a lot of input and power when it comes to positively influencing equal pay in the country. In as much as the same level of government recently overturned a 2015 ruling in favor of women being paid salaries that were not reflective of their previous salaries as explained by (Hatch), there is still potential in the role the Federal has to play. This is out of the fact that it is at this level of governance that the most influence can come from. Therefore, the Federal government needs to enact favorable laws towards equal pay for the benefit of the economy.
Works Cited
Campbell, Alexia. “One Way to Ensure Equal Pay for Men and Women.” The Atlantic. 1 Nov 2016. Web. 23 May 2017 https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/11/how-the-government-mostly-closed-its-gender-pay-gap/506084/
Frye, Jocelyn. “Next Steps for Progress on Equal Pay.” Center for American Progress, 12 Apr 2016. Web. 23 May 2017 https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2016/04/12/135267/next-steps-for-progress-on-equal-pay/
Hatch, Jenavieve. “Federal Court Rules That Employers Can Pay A Woman, Less As Long As Her Old Boss Did, Too.” Huffington post, 1 May 2017. Web. 23 May 2017 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/federal-court-rules-that-employers-can-pay-a-woman-less-as-long-as-her-old-boss-did-too_us_5903435de4b0bb2d086d4481
National Women’s Law Center. “Equal Pay & the Wage Gap.” Nwlc.org, n.d. web 23 May 2017 https://nwlc.org/issue/equal-pay-and-the-wage-gap/
