For 14 million unemployed Americans and their families, this Labor Day will not be a happy one. Instead of enjoying a day off of work, they’re suffering a disturbing trend under the Obama economy: Jobs are not being created, the unemployment rate has not improved, and the economy is at a near standstill. Even worse, the labor market’s stall might be turning into a decline. And today, in Detroit—which in July had the highest unemployment rate of any metropolitan area in the country—President Obama is due to stand with labor …
This week, just in time for Labor Day, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) handed down several decisions that undermine workers’ rights to tell union organizers “no.” In one ruling, Specialty Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center of Mobile, the NLRB radically redefined the definition of a collective bargaining unit—the workers a union represents—to permit micro-unions. Traditionally, unions organize workers who share a community of interest. At a grocery store, for example, a collective bargaining unit would typically represent all the hourly employees. The NLRB junked that definition in favor of a …
America has the weakest labor market since the Great Depression. Unemployment remains above 9 percent, primarily because job creation hasn’t recovered. In a new paper, Heritage’s James Sherk looks at unemployment in America and what Congress can do about it. And in the interactive slideshow below, see what America’s employment picture looks like this Labor Day 2011. (Hover over the slideshow to click through.)
Yesterday, the White House announced that President Obama would once again be giving a “major jobs speech” in September after his Martha’s Vineyard vacation. If spending three years delivering identical speeches created jobs, President Obama would be taking credit for 4% unemployment today. Alas, they do not. In fact, President Obama has given many “major“ speeches and addresses on jobs since taking office. While some news organizations treated this announcement as “breaking news” yesterday, it is unfortunately more of the same from a President who is long on speeches and short …
This Labor Day marks a milestone in the history of the U.S. union movement. It is the first Labor Day on which a majority of union members in United States work for the government. In January the Department of Labor reported that union membership in government has overtaken that in the private sector. Three times as many union members work in the Post Office as in the entire domestic auto industry. The face of the union movement is not a worker on the assembly line but a clerk at the …
While Americans now celebrate the end of summer over Labor Day weekend, Labor Day originally began in the 1890s as a celebration of “the strength and esprit de corps” of labor unions. In their early days unions fought primarily to improve working conditions and protect workers rights. Large majorities of Americans have long approved of role labor unions play in society. Until this Labor Day. Gallup reports that, for the first time since they began polling Americans on the question in the 1930s, less than half of Americans – 48 …
Traditionally, Labor Day symbolizes the end of summer but historically, Labor Day was a “creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.” A day of rest. A paid holiday. Well, if Congress passes cap and trade legislation, many Americans will be forced to take unpaid days of rest because they’ll be unemployed. The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis found that, for the average year over the 2012-2035 timeline, job losses will be 1.1 million greater than without a cap and …
