Labor Day in the United States

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United States holidays 2022

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Labor Day is a federal holiday on the first Monday of September every year. It has its roots in the American labor movement.

This is a state public holiday. State government offices are closed. Some schools and businesses may also be closed on this day.

People are relaxing in downtown Capitola, California, USA, on the Labor Day weekend.

©iStockphoto.com/benedek

Labor Day is on the first Monday of September every year and is a national holiday in the US. It has its origins in the labor movement and is a day to celebrate American workers.

People celebrate Labor Day with picnics, sports events, and street parades. The American football season begins on—or around—Labor Day.

Labor Day has become the unofficial end of summer—after Labor Day Weekend, kids are back to school.

For many, it is the last chance to take a break before school starts again for the fall session, and people take advantage of the long weekend to take a last summer trip. As a result, there may be extra traffic on highways and at airports.

Labor Day has deep roots in the 130 years of the labor movement and its efforts to improve working conditions in America. It is also known as International Workers’ Day or May Day and is celebrated on May 1 internationally.

With the growth of the Industrial Revolution came the demand for labor and trade unions. Around the 1850s, eight-hour movements across the world aimed to reduce the working day from ten to eight hours. At its first congress in 1886, the American Federation of Labour called for a general strike in Chicago on May 1 to demand an eight-hour day, which culminated in what is known today as the Haymarket affair.

The first Labor Day celebration was the Labor Day parade in New York City on September 5, 1882. Its origins stem from the Central Labor Union’s and other labor organizations’ desire to create a holiday for workers. Oregon was the first state to pass it as a legal holiday in 1887, and by the end of the same year, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York had passed laws creating a Labor Day holiday. President Grover Cleveland made it a federal holiday in 1894.

According to the US Department of Labor, it is not completely clear who first suggested the Labor Day holiday. Some sources say that Matthew Maguire proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. Others argue that Peter J. Mcguire, co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, suggested a holiday for the ‘laboring classes’ in 1882.

The holiday was set on the first Monday in September because this was considered a more politically neutral date than May 1. Another reason was to add a holiday to bridge the long gap between Independence Day in July and Thanksgiving in November.

While we diligently research and update our holiday dates, some of the information in the table above may be preliminary. If you find an error, please let us know.