Labor Day has been an annual federal holiday in the United States since 1894. It was created in honour of the American labor movement and the enormous contribution which millions of workers have made in helping the United States to develop and prosper.
Labor Day is traditionally celebrated on the first Monday in September in the United States, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, and the Virgin Islands and is the culmination of Labor Day Weekend.
Being an official, national holiday in the U.S. and also Canada, for most Americans, Labor Day means having the day off from work and symbolically, it is considered the end of summer and start of fall when children return to school.
There is always plenty to do on Labor Day and the weekend days preceding it; apart from spending quality time with family or friends, the day is usually celebrated with picnics, barbecues, street parades, fireworks displays, concerts and other events and activities. While workers are given time off on Labor Day, they are also paid as normal by their employers.
Curiously, the first ‘Labor Day’ actually took place on a Tuesday and was an unofficial event organised by New York’s Central Labor Union (CLU). On 5 September 1882, around 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square in New York City, in protest of inhumane working practices, conditions and abuse of workers’ rights. The CLU demanded a set of conditions, bound by law, including abolishing child labour, fair wages and an eight-hour workday.
Labor Day, an official holiday, passed by Congress in 1894
It became a state holiday around the country in the following years before finally being declared a federal holiday in 1894 when president Grover Cleveland signed it into law. This year, Labor Day will be celebrated on 7 September.
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