Labor Day By the Numbers

This post was compiled by Karen Chadra 

Labor Day weekend is unofficially the last one of the summer, marking the end of the season for local pools and summer concert series, and the start of a new school year. 

But the first Monday in September is also the holiday that recognizes Americans for their hard work. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the first observance of Labor Day was likely Sept. 5, 1882, when some 10,000 workers assembled in New York City for a parade. 

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The celebration inspired similar events across the country, and by 1894 more than half the states observed a "workingmen's holiday" on one day or another. Later that year, Congress passed legislation and President Grover Cleveland signed the bill to designate the first Monday in September as "Labor Day." 

The national holiday is a creation of the labor movement in the late 19th century, and pays tribute to the social and economic achievements of American worker, according to the Bureau. 

The Census Bureau has compiled the following facts and figures about American workers, from salary, benefits and union data to commute times and back-to-school shopping stats.

Who Are We Celebrating?

155.7 million

Number of people 16 and over in the nation's labor force in May 2013.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Our Jobs

Largest Occupations May 2012
Number of employees

• Retail salespeople: 4,340,000
• Cashiers: 3,314,010
• Combined food preparation and serving workers" 2,943,810 (including fast food)
• Office clerks, general: 2,808,100
• Registered nurses: 2,633,980
• Waiters and waitresses: 2,332,020
• Customer service representatives: 2,299,750
• Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand: 2,143,940
• Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping : 2,097,380
• Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal medical, and executive: 2,085,680 

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and wages for the largest and smallest occupations, May 2012

Largest Occupations 1910

• Farmers (owners and tenants): 6,132,000
• Farm laborers, wageworkers: 2,832,000
• Farm laborers, unpaid family workers: 2,514,000
• Operatives and kindred workers, manufacturing: 2,318,000
• Laborers, nonmanufacturing industries: 2,210,000
• Laborers, manufacturing: 1,487,000
• Salesmen and sales clerks, retail trade: 1,454,000
• Housekeepers, private household - living out: 1,338,000
• Managers, officials, and proprietors, retail trade: 1,119,000
• Mine operatives and laborers, crude petroleum and natural gas extraction: 907,000 

Source: Statistical Abstract, Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970

847,516

The number of paid employees (for pay period including March 12) who worked for a gasoline station in the U.S. in 2011. Oregon was the first state to make Labor Day a holiday in February 1887. Oregon (9,634 paid gasoline station employees), along with New Jersey (15,734 paid gasoline station employees), are the only states without self-service gasoline stations. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 County Business Patterns 

15.9 million

The number of wage and salary workers age 16 and over represented by a union in 2012. This group includes both union members (14.4 million) and workers who report no union affiliation but whose jobs are covered by a union contract (1.6 million).

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 American Community Survey

1.9%

Percentage increase in employment in the U.S. between December 2011 and December 2012. Employment increased in 287 of the 328 largest counties (large counties are defined as having employment levels of 75,000 or more).

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 

7.4%

Percentage increase over the year in employment in Elkhart, IN, between December 2011 and December 2012, compared with national job growth of 1.9 percent. Within Elkhart, the largest employment increase occurred in manufacturing, which gained 5,479 jobs over the year. 

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Another Day, Another Dollar

$48,202 and $37,118

The 2011 real median earnings for male and female full-time, year-round workers, respectively.

Source: Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2011

Fastest Growing Jobs

70%

Projected percentage growth from 2010 to 2020 in the number of personal care aides (607,000). Analysts expect this occupation to grow much faster than the average for all occupations. Meanwhile, the occupation expected to add more positions over this period than any other is registered nurses (711,900).

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Employee Benefits

84.7%

Percentage of full-time workers 18 to 64 covered by health insurance during all or part of 2011. 

Source: Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2011

Say Goodbye to Summer

Labor Day is celebrated by most Americans as the symbolic end of the summer and the start of the back-to-school season.

25,448

The number of shoe stores for back-to-school shopping in 2011. Other choices of retail establishments abound: there were 28,128 family clothing stores, 7,093 children and infants clothing stores, 8,144 office supply and stationery stores, 8,407 bookstores and 8,625 department stores.

21,227

The number of sporting goods stores nationwide in 2011. In U.S. sports, college football teams usually play their first games the week before Labor Day, with the NFL traditionally playing their first game the Thursday following Labor Day. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 County Business Patterns

The Commute to Work

5.7 million

Number of commuters who left for work between midnight and 4:59 a.m. in 2011. They represented 4.3 percent of all commuters.

4.3%

Percentage of workers 16 and over who worked from home in 2011.

76.4%

Percentage of workers 16 and over who drove alone to work in 2011. Another 9.7 percent carpooled and 2.8 percent walked from home.

25.5 minutes

The average time it took workers in the U.S. to commute to work in 2011. Maryland and New York had the most time-consuming commutes, averaging 32.2 and 31.5 minutes, respectively.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 American Community Survey

Information courtesy of the United States Census Bureau.