Labor Day: 6 Facts

     1. Labor Day in the U.S. is the first Monday in September.

Labor Day may have started in the United States, but it is celebrated in many other countries. The first Monday in September is when the U.S. and Canada celebrate Labor Day. Other countries celebrate it on May 1 and may call it International Workers’ Day.

     2. Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894. 

Several states celebrated Labor Day, including adding the holiday officially, for years before it became a national holiday. Laborers in New York created the first Labor Day celebration in 1882. That’s 12 years before it became a federal holiday. 

     3. We don’t know who first proposed Labor Day as a holiday.

It could be Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners. It could also be Matthew Maguire, a machinist. 

     4. Labor Day honors manual laborers and people who died.

Labor Day was started to honor those who worked in occupations that today might be labeled “trades,” like seamstresses, carpenters, and jewelers. 

In the 1800s in the United States, these workers were abused by their employers. Children often worked in dangerous conditions for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. People dying in workplace accidents was considered the cost of doing business. 

These workers, in organized groups, began to object to the inhumane conditions. Their employers objected to them objecting. People had to choose between keeping their jobs and hampering the protests or leaving their families without a way to buy food. People were killed because of the protests. 

After many years and many deaths, things improved a bit. These protesters are why a 40-hour workweek and weekends off are considered normal. Many of the protections and benefits workers have today are because of the work of the 19th-century labor protesters. Some things they achieved. Other things were possible later because of their success.

     5. Labor Day means parades?

Most of the free internet sites I looked at like these from DOL, History, and NPR say that parades were integral to the first Labor Day celebrations and continue to be part of the day’s events. This was news to me. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard of a Labor Day parade or other formal celebration.

     6. Labor Day marks a cultural season change.

In the United States, many people consider Labor Day the event that changes the seasons from summer to autumn. This has little to do with the weather or meteorological events like the autumnal equinox (which comes near the end of September). 

The connection comes from the historical practice of schools being closed during the summer and starting their regular school year in September. Of course, nowadays, many schools start in early August, but the tradition of the start of September marking the end of summer persists.