Labor Day, the federal holiday that marks the unofficial end of summer, is widely celebrated with a three-day weekend of parades, barbecues and sales. Yet, the holiday has a rich history grounded in deep activist roots.
Discover the story behind this annual observance of the U.S. labor movement that honors everyday workers and their contributions to society.
The First Labor Day Parade
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A drawing from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper depicts the fist Labor Day parade in New York.
The origins of Labor Day trace to Sept. 5, 1882, when about 10,000 workers participated in a parade through New York City. The event to demonstrate worker solidarity was organized by the Central Labor Union that coordinated local labor groups.
The New York Historical Society said the movement operated on the belief that "the emancipation of the working classes must be achieved by the working classes themselves, as no other class has any interest in improving their conditions."
There was a post-parade celebration at Wendel's Elm Park, located at the intersection of 92nd St. and Ninth Ave. About 25,000 union members and their families gathered for picnics, speeches, cigars and "Lager beer kegs... mounted in every conceivable place."
Following the success of the march, the parade was established as an annual tradition. Organizers in 1884 decided to hold the event on the first Monday of September instead of using the fixed date of September 5.
The Haymarket Affair and the 'May Day' Split
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A drawing by T. De Thulstrup depicts the Haymarket Affair in Chicago.
While the New York parade and subsequent festivities were mostly peaceful, worker demonstrations during the same era had disastrous results, exposing the severe divide between workers and their industrialist bosses.
On May 4, 1886 a crowd of about 1,500 workers gathered in Chicago’s Haymarket Square, responding to a bloody altercation less than 24 hours earlier, when unarmed strikers clashed with police at Chicago’s McCormick Reaper Works factory.
The rally started peacefully, but changed when police were called to dissipate the crowd and a bomb was hurled. Violence and gunfire left seven officers and four civilians dead. Dozens were injured.
The Second International, a global alliance of trade unions and socialist organizations based in Paris, voted in 1889 to establish May 1 as a commemorative day for workers, solidifying May Day as International Worker’s Day.
To distance American workers from more radical labor groups and socialism, U.S. political leaders pushed for a September holiday to honor workers.
Pullman Strikes and Boycotts
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Federal troops arrive in Blue Island, Illinois, during the Pullman strikes and boycotts.
In May of 1894, members of the American Railway Union (ARU) announced a strike against the Pullman Company railway carriage manufacturer. The workers were protesting recently reduced wages, a 16-hour work day and poor living conditions in the Pullman, Illinois company town – one of the first planned industrial communities in the U.S.
When management refused to meet with labor, firing many of the strikers, the ARU led by Eugene V. Debs called for a nationwide boycott of the Pullman Company.
This crippled freight and passenger rail service across the country until July 1894, when President Grover Cleveland issued an injunction against the boycott, sending thousands of U.S. Marshals and U.S. Army Troops into Illinois.
By the end of the boycott, several strikers were dead, more were injured and millions of dollars were lost due to property damage and reduced profits.
Labor Day Becomes a Federal Holiday
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President Grover Cleveland poses for a portrait.
On June 28, 1894 Cleveland signed the law declaring Labor Day as a federal holiday.
Widely considered a conciliatory gesture to workers amid the nationwide labor protests, Congress and Cleveland chose to establish the September holiday instead of what was viewed as the radical May Day workers holiday.
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire & Workplace Safety Reform
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Crowds of people stand in the street, waiting to identify bodies of immigrant workers following the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in New York City.
On March 25, 1911 unsafe working conditions at the Triangle Shirtwaist garment factory in New York City caused a fire that engulfed the top three floors of the cramped 10-story Manhattan building.
The blaze killed 146 workers, mostly teen girls. The fire’s high fatality rate was due to preventable safety issues: cramped conditions, locked doors that swung inwards and a decision by owners to cut costs by not installing a sprinkler system.
Witness Frances Perkins became a key advisor and investigator for the New York State Factory Investigating Commission. The commission established as a result of the fire wrote 36 new labor related bills that the New York Legislature eventually adopted. They served as a model for nationwide reforms.
Perkins later became the first female federal cabinet member, serving as Labor Secretary under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The Fair Labor Standards Act Creates Worker Protections
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A nine-year-old boy receives twenty cents for a hamper of beans he picked on a farm in Homestead, Florida.
Roosevelt championed the landmark Fair Labor Standards Act, a New Deal effort that created long-sought standards for most public and private workers focusing on minimum wage rates, overtime pay and child labor.
Perkins worked for reforms in those areas for years. After a protracted battle in Congress and dozens of amendments, the proposal was accepted.
The law that Roosevelt signed on June 25, 1938 set a federal minimum wage of 25 cents per hour, required employers to pay time-and-a-half for overtime and created restrictions on when and where minors could work.
Labor’s Influence in the 20th Century and Beyond
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Members of various labor unions demonstrate during the Labor Day parade in New York on Sept. 2, 1985.
A 2023 Congressional Research Service report identified 1954 as the peak of union participation in the United States, with 33.5% of the workforce holding membership.
Even as union density declined over the following decades, American presidents across the political spectrum continued to emphasize the crucial role of workers in their policy agendas.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy delivered a Labor Day message to youth, urging a “return to school” as preparation for entering the labor force.
In 1974, President Gerald Ford praised workers and labor organizations and called for “their support in a new struggle for productivity” as the nation battled inflation.
President Ronald Reagan used his 1985 Labor Day message to praise the “American wage earner” and voice his administration’s commitment to “keeping open foreign markets and removing obstacles to free trade.”
Barack Obama’s 2016 Labor Day Proclamation praised “the grit and resilience of America's workers and their families, and we recommit to reaching for a world in which they are afforded the rights and opportunities they deserve.”
The Coronavirus Pandemic
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Nurses react as community members applaud their service outside NYU Langone Hospital in New York City on April 30, 2020.
The 2020 Labor Day holiday was an unusual one for the U.S. as the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns halted daily life.
But workers in grocery stores, health care and delivery services toiled long hours as most Americans stayed home amid lockdowns.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified essential workers “as those who conduct a range of operations and services in industries that are essential to ensure the continuity of critical functions in the United States.”
The pandemic spotlighted the integral role workers perform in U.S. society.
Current State of Labor in the United States
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Long Island Rail Road workers picket in front of Penn Station in New York City, on May 18, 2026.
Although union membership has decreased significantly from its peak during the 20th Century, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that as of 2025, about 10 percent of wage and salary workers are union members.
Workers at many types of public and private enterprises are eligible to join unions to bargain collectively with employers.
High-profile workers strikes in the transportation, education and manufacturing sectors show that labor rights are a continuing concern.
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