Blog
The flaw in Justice Kagan defense of the NLRB
Justice Elana Kagan authored a lengthy dissent to the Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday granting the Trump administration’s request to keep the Gwynne Wilcox,…
Blog
Initiative 82 will hopefully get 86’d
The city of Washington, DC has belatedly realized that passing a law whose purpose is to make a product or service more expensive will cause…
The Daily Signal
How Many Biden Appointees ‘Burrowed in’ to the Permanent Bureaucracy?
The Daily Signal cited CEI’s expert on political career placements Sean Higgins, a research fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, also highlighted the threat of…
News Release
April adds 177,000 jobs to economy, tariff policies yet to majorly shakeup labor market: CEI analysis
The job numbers for April show 177,000 jobs were added to the economy, with the unemployment rate staying steady at 4.2 percent. While job growth…
Blog
CEI suggests DOT put the brakes on train two-person crew rule
The Transportation Department recently asked the public for comments on how to reduce the regulatory burden. One thought that the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)…
Comment
Competitive Enterprise Institute Letter in Support of DOT Request to Reduce Regulatory Burden
On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), I respectfully submit the following comments in response to the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) request for information,…
Blog
Trump’s tariffs: Look for the union label
One of the biggest boosters of President Trump’s tariffs has been the United Auto Workers (UAW). The venerable union wants to see domestic factories expanded…
Letters
CEI joins ATR to Protect Taxpayers Wallets
Dear Members of Congress, Taxpayer dollars should benefit Americans, not subsidize organized labor. Under current law, federal employees can continue to earn their taxpayer-funded salaries…
Blog
Why government reform may hinge on ending federal unions
President Trump’s executive order ending collective bargaining for a wide swath of federal cabinet agencies and other government entities is a laudable attempt…
News Release
March adds 228,000 jobs ahead of a rocky economic road: CEI analysis
The job numbers report for March show 228,000 jobs were added to the economy, with the unemployment rate staying steady at 4.2 percent. While…
Blog
Trump’s push to remake the NLRB
Things are a bit topsy-turvy currently at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency that oversees labor-management disputes in…
Blog
Five ideas for Secretary Chavez-DeRemer
President Trump’s newly-confirmed labor secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, has been viewed with suspicion by many on the free-market right. She can rectify that…
News Release
Trump EO reflects big drawbacks of government unions: CEI analysis
President Trump signed an executive order on March 27 to end collective bargaining with public sector unions in certain agencies with national security missions. CEI…
Blog
Hawley’s bill speeds up union elections by removing guardrails
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) thinks workers are having too hard of a time forming unions. His solution to that is to fast-track the process…
Letters
CEI joins Institute for the American Worker in coalition letter about Senator Josh Hawley’s proposal framework for the PRO Act.
Dear Members of the United States Senate, We write to express our deep concern about Senator Josh Hawley’s proposed labor framework. The framework has no…
Blog
Chavez-DeRemer exemplifies Trump’s complicated relationship with unions
The Senate confirmed former Oregon Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer in a 67-32 vote Monday as President Trump’s new labor secretary. CEI and others…
News Release
TSA to end collective bargaining due for its workers, citing abuse of union “official time”: CEI comment
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today announced it is ending collective bargaining for the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Transportation Security Officers, explaining that…
News Release
Economy adds fewer jobs than expected in February 2025, with trade tariff uncertainty looming large
Experts expected the U.S. economy to add 160,000 jobs in the month of February, but it fell a bit short at 151,000. As President Trump’s…
Blog
You want hiring freezes with that? The effects of California’s minimum wage increase
California officially raised its minimum wage to $20 an hour last April in an attempt to help the state’s working poor. What those folks…
Blog
White House requires federal agencies to disclose time spent working for unions instead of taxpayers
The Trump administration has restored reporting and transparency requirements for so-called “official time,” the practice where government workers are allowed to act exclusively on behalf…
Blog
Trump labor department pick signals pro-market stance on joint employer, independent contract rules
Keith Sonderling, Trump’s pick to deputy secretary of labor, the department’s second-ranking position, told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee this…
The Daily Signal
The Sneaky Way Government Unions Rake in Taxpayer Money, and How Congress Can Fight It in Reconciliation
The Daily Signal quoted CEI’s expert on budget reconciliation To drive the point home, Stern noted, “Your tax dollars quite literally go to pay for…
Blog
Trump labor secretary pick backs right to work, disavows past support for union-tilted PRO Act
President Trump’s pick to be labor secretary, former Oregon Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer, disavowed her past support for the union-tilted …
Blog
Trump says labor law cannot prevent him from cleaning house at labor umpire agency
President’s Trump’s letter firing National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chairwoman Gwynne Wilcox and the NLRB’s general Counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, makes the bold claim that…
Blog
No, Virginia, there was no Amazon worker strike
The labor protests launched by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters against Amazon over the Christmas holiday were nothing more than a hollow …
News Release
January adds 143,000 jobs to the economy, labor market trends cooler: CEI analysis
Blog
Hawley offers gift to union leaders, not workers
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) reportedly has proposed a “pro-worker framework for the 119th Congress” that amounts to a watered down wishlist of items wanted by unions leaders.
Blog
Trump follows Biden precedent in sacking NLRB general counsel
President Trump’s decision to fire National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chairwoman Gwynne Wilcox and general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo is controversial and will likely be challenged…
Blog
Trump’s new Schedule F executive order is smarter, but could still backfire
President Trump’s re-instatement of his “Schedule F” executive order, making it easier to fire career federal employees,…
Blog
Trump picks gig economy fan for DOL’s number 2 spot
President-elect Donald Trump has raised more than a few eyebrows in the world of labor policy when he nominated the frankly…
Products
Free to Prosper: Labor and employment
News Release
Economy adds 256,000 jobs in December, uncertainty remains with upcoming tariff policies: CEI analysis
The job numbers released today from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show 256,000 jobs were added to the economy in the last month of…
News Release
Biden blocks Nippon Steel purchase of U.S. Steel in baseless protectionist maneuver
With just days left in office, President Biden decided to block Nippon Steel from purchasing U.S. Steel, alleging it might “impair the national security of…
Citation
Could Nippon still buy U.S. Steel after Biden blocked the deal?
NPR’s Marketplace interviewed CEI’s expert on Biden blocking Nippon Steel’s purchase of U.S. Steel Listen to more at Marketplace…
National Review
The Teamsters’ Imaginary Strike against Amazon
There was a historic strike by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters workers at Amazon facilities over the Christmas holiday, yet it didn’t appear to slow Amazon’s…
The Washington Times
Retail industry projects surge in post-Christmas regifting and returns
The Washington Times quoted CEI’s expert on regifting in the retail industry The problem is that regifting ‘can suggest a certain laziness on the part…
Blog
Nice dock. Big shame if you modernized it, Trump warns ports
President Trump has signaled that if East Coast dockworkers go on strike, he will back them instead of the ports. This increases the odds that…
News Release
Senate stops Biden’s partisan NLRB maneuver, paving the way for Trump nominee
The Senate on Wednesday blocked President Biden’s attempt to re-nominate the Democrat chair of the National Labor Relations Board, Lauren McFerran. CEI labor policy expert…
Blog
Schumer moves to lock in place Democrat-majority labor board
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is attempting to ensure that the Democrats retain control of the National Labor Relations Board, the…
City Journal
Unions’ Choice
At first glance, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick of one-term congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer to serve as Labor secretary is mystifying. The former congresswoman seemingly …
News Release
Economy adds 227,000 jobs in November, suggesting a steady labor market: CEI analysis
Today’s labor report for November suggests a steady job market, with 227,000 jobs being added to the economy last month. Considering the report, the…
CNN
Trump’s Labor secretary pick is surprisingly pro-union. It doesn’t mean his administration will be
CNN’s Chris Isidore relays Sean Higgins’s misgivings about the Trump Labor Dept. nominee “While it is hard to predict what (Chavez-DeRemer) would do as a…
Blog
Congresswoman Chavez-DeRemer is not qualified to be Labor Secretary
President-elect Donald Trump is considering Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR) for the position of…
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Commentary: Automation could be a problem in retail theft
Headed into the holiday season, the retail industry is wrangling with a surge in shoplifting and possible solutions to prevent theft. The upsurge may be an…
Blog
Biden overtime rule overruled
A Texas court last week threw out the Biden’s administration’s attempt to rewrite the rules for overtime. The court said that the Department of Labor…
Blog
NLRB moves to silence employers during union drives
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the independent federal agency that oversees union activity, ruled Wednesday in a case involving Amazon…
Blog
Voters okay higher minimum wages, balk at more radical ideas
The ironic thing about Donald Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ rhetoric is that it overlaps to a degree with old-school Democratic populism. This can be…
The Washington Times
Survey finds inflation chilling Christmas shopping plans
The Washington Times cited CEI’s expert on inflation “Before the pandemic, inflation was practically nonexistent, having fallen to 0.1% in May 2020,” said Sean Higgins,…
News Release
Boeing machinists strike ends, but union should face financial reality
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace workers in Seattle have ended their strike, as members approved a company pay raise offer. CEI labor policy…
Washington Examiner
Biden’s best efforts could not keep unions from declining or defecting to GOP
Washington Examiner cited CEI’s expert on Biden’s efforts on unionization Sean Higgins, a labor researcher at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, attributed the…