Labor Day

Labor Day, holiday celebrated in the United States and Canada on the first Monday in September to honor the laborer. It was inaugurated by the Knights of Labor in 1882 and made a national holiday by the U.S. Congress in 1894. In most other countries—and among the leftists in the United States and Canada—May Day (May 1) is celebrated instead.

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Labor Day

Annual holiday devoted to the recognition of working people's contribution to society. It is observed on the first Monday in September in the U.S. and Canada. It was first celebrated in New York City on Sept. 5, 1882, under the sponsorship of the Knights of Labor. Various U.S. states observed the holiday before 1894, when Congress passed a bill making Labor Day a national holiday. It is often celebrated with parades and speeches, as well as political rallies, and the day is sometimes the official kickoff date for national political campaigns in the U.S. In most other countries, workers are honoured on May Day.

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Labor Day

First Monday in September

Although workers' holidays had been observed since the days of the medieval trade guilds, laborers in the United States didn't have a holiday of their own until 1882. This was the year when Peter J. McGuire, a New York City carpenter and labor union leader, and Matthew Maguire, a machinist from Paterson, N.J., suggested to the Central Labor Union of New York that a celebration be held in honor of the American worker. Some 10,000 New Yorkers paraded in Union Square, New York, on September 5 of that year—a date specifically chosen by McGuire to fill the long gap between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving.
The first Labor Day observance was confined to New York City, but the idea of setting aside a day to honor workers spread quickly, and by 1895 Labor Day events were taking place across the nation. Oregon, in 1887, was the first state to make it a legal holiday, and in 1894 President Grover Cleveland signed a bill making it a national holiday. The holiday's association with trade unions has declined, but it remains important as the day that marks the end of the summer season for schoolchildren and as an opportunity for friends and families to get together for picnics and sporting events.
Labour Day is celebrated in England and Europe on May 1. In Australia, where it is called Eight Hour Day, it is celebrated at different times in different states, and commemorates the struggle for a shorter working day. In Antigua and Barbuda, Labor Day is observed on May 6; in the Bahamas, it's June 7; in Bermuda, Sept. 2; in Jamaica, May 23; and in Trinidad and Tobago, June 19. Labor Day is observed on the first Monday in September throughout the United States, in Canada, and in Puerto Rico. In Japan, November 23 is Labor Thanksgiving Day, or Kinro Kansha-no-Hi, a legal holiday set aside to honor working people and productivity.

CONTACTS:
U.S. Department of Labor
Office of Public Affairs
200 Constitution Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20210
877-889-5627
www.dol.gov
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. S.E.
Washington, DC 20540
202-707-5000; fax: 202-707-8366
www.loc.gov
AFL-CIO
815 16th St. N.W.
Washington, DC 20006
202-637-5000; fax: 202-637-5058
www.aflcio.org

SOURCES:
AmerBkDays-2000, p. 632
AnnivHol-2000, pp. 163, 195
BkFest-1937, p. 18
BkHolWrld-1986, Sep 7
DaysCustFaith-1957, p. 248
DictDays-1988, p. 65
FolkAmerHol-1999, p. 358
HolSymbols-2009, p. 469
PatHols-2006, p. 175

Celebration days: Sep 5, 2011; Sep 3, 2012; Sep 2, 2013; Sep 1, 2014; Sep 7, 2015

Celebrated in: Algeria, Argentina, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Gabon, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Hungary, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Morocco, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Congo, Republic of Kosovo, Romania, Rwanda, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Spain, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Sweden, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yemen