Myth: it is the duty of the Federal Government to regulate labor to ensure that laborers are not mistreated.
Truth: The Commerce Clause of the Constitution only allows the regulation of inter-state or international commerce, thus while the Federal Government can create its own system for dealing with Federal employees, regulation of other wages, benefits, etc. by the Federal Government is prohibited.
The Constitution does not prohibit States from regulating their own commerce or establishing minimum wages within their borders. Such activity, even when dealing with interstate business, clearly takes place at a specific local area and is separate from the business’ larger interstate activities. Allowing the federal government to enact such laws would be incredibly unwise as well as unconstitutional because labor, like any other good or service, varies in worth over time and in different places. To try to establish a uniform “price” for labor across the entire United States would show a clear lack of understanding of the varied and complicated economic principles regarding prices and their natural fluctuations.
