Whether it is exposing legislation and regulations that benefit unions, lawyers or management at the expense of workers, detailing the folly of occupational licensing laws; supporting the expansion of state right-to-work laws; or highlighting the overreach of lawmakers, bureaucrats, and courts; CEI advances reforms in this crucial, often overlooked policy area. Our op-eds, policy papers, media appearances, coalition work, and innovative research serve as crucial counterweights to the aggressive efforts by unions and their allies to frame the policy debate.
Labor and Employment Issue Areas
Featured Posts
Blog
Supreme Court likely to decide fate of federal unions
A matter likely to end up before the Supreme Court soon is the right of federal government employees to form unions. Whether they retain that…
Blog
‘With you or without you’ – The growing rift between unions and Democrats
A rift is growing between the Democratic Party and the labor movement. It was caused in large part by the party’s inability to move the…
News Release
Economy adds 139,000 jobs in May, labor market growth slows: CEI analysis
May added 139,000 jobs to the economy, with the unemployment rate staying unchanged at 4.2 percent. Trump’s policies, namely his mission to shrink the…
Search Posts
Study
First Steps for the Trump Administration: Unleash America’s Labor Force
View full document as PDF During the Obama administration the Department of Labor (DOL) and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) failed to…
Blog
Labor and Employment Reforms for the Next Congress
In the arena of labor and employment policy, the next Congress has its hands full in reversing eight years of red-tape that unduly burdens the…
Blog
Court Strikes Down Another Unlawful Labor Rule
On December 12, 2016, the federal Northern District Court of Texas put the final nail in the coffin of the Department of Labor’s misguided persuader…
Washington Examiner
Court scraps Labor Department’s ‘persuader’ rule
Washington Examiner discusses a court ruling on the Department of Labor's "persuader rule" with Trey Kovacs. Trey Kovacs, labor policy analyst for…
Blog
RealClear Radio Hour: Political Disasters in Science and Economics
This week on RealClear Radio Hour, Marc Edwards and Dan Liljenquist recount politically induced disasters from the perversion of science to the pension crisis.
The Daily Signal
How Trump Can Curb the Power of Unelected Regulators
Do federal agencies face any limits on their power? Recently, a federal appeals court ruled that Richard Cordray’s position as director of the Consumer…
Blog
A Pro-Growth Agenda for the 115th Congress
At CEI, we believe a clear agenda is necessary to move America toward economic growth, prosperity, and liberty for individuals to chart their own paths…
Politico
Is it Puzder?
Politico's Morning Shift highlights CEI's labor policy agenda for the 115th Congress. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning nonprofit, released its policy agenda…
InsideSources
Why New Deal Era Laws Are a Drag On the American Worker
InsideSources highlights CEI's labor policy priorities for the 115th Congress. The Competitive Enterprise Institute released a detailed report Thursday listing policies it hopes…
Daily Caller
Trump Nominates Fight For $15 Critic For Labor Secretary
The Daily Caller discusses discusses President-elect Trump's pick for Labor Secretary with Trey Kovacs. Free-market groups and right-leaning think tanks hailed the decision.
Products
Free to Prosper: Labor and Employment
Read the full chapter on Labor and Employment here Increases in productivity—not artificial increases in labor prices—are the key to economic growth and rising…
Blog
Obama Overtime Rule Would Have Wreaked Havoc Starting Today
Today, the Obama Department of Labor’s new overtime regulation was scheduled to go into effect. Thousands of businesses, universities, nonprofits, and local and state governments…
Washington Examiner
White House files appeal to save overtime rule
Washington Examiner discusses a judge's injuction on the overtime pay rule with Trey Kovacs. "Despite the harmful impact of the overtime rule on…
Washington Free Beacon
Labor Department Appeals OT Loss
The Washington Free Beacon discusses how a Texas judge blocked the overtime pay rule with Trey Kovacs. In addition to the overtime regulations,…
Blog
O’Hare Airport Strikes: Will Anybody Notice?
If 500 workers are absent for several hours and it hardly affects a thing at the airport, then how essential are they?…
Blog
Court Blocks Overtime Rule
Labor Secretary Thomas Perez learned a harsh lesson this month. Public servants at federal agencies cannot allow their political preferences to guide their regulatory agenda.
The Washington Free Beacon
Another Obama Admin Labor Rule in Jeopardy
The Washington Free Beacon speaks with Trey Kovacs on a judge's injunction of the overtime rule. Labor watchdogs and attorneys say the injunction…
Fox News
Labor and employment priorities for the Trump administration
President-elect Donald Trump says economic growth and job creation are top priorities of his administration, and with good reason. For much of the past eight…
Independent Journal Review
It’s Time For The New President And Congress To Think Big When It Comes To Cutting Government Waste
Political revolutions don’t come around often: Margaret Thatcher in Britain in 1979, the fall of the Berlin Wall in Eastern Europe in 1990, the Contract…
Blog
Report: Nationwide Grading of Government Union Laws
At the federal level, the two primary labor and employment statutes—National Labor Relations Act and Fair Labor Standards Act, have remained relatively untouched for decades.
InsideSources
The Obama Workplace Policies Likely on the Trump Chopping Block
InsideSources discusses harmful labor regulations that the Trump administration can get rid of with Trey Kovacs. “Executive orders and guidance can be…
Blog
Free Market Opportunities for the Trump Administration
This election has given us one more demonstration that knowledge is dispersed and “trusting the experts” to know the future is foolish. The unexpected success…
InsideSources
Court Blocks Blacklisting Rule that Imposes Massive Costs, Produces No Clear Benefits
In the closing act of the Obama administration, federal agencies are rushing to finalize regulations. Notably, the regulators over at the Department of Labor are…
The Virginian-Pilot
Trey Kovacs: Virginians should preserve the right to work
No one should be forced to financially support an organization they disagree with under threat of penalty. Virginians have the chance to stand up for…
Blog
The UK Uber Ruling and Two-Sided Markets
One of the things that the UK Employment Tribunal’s recent ruling (that people who use the Uber platform should be employees of the company)…
Blog
Permitting Government Employee Strikes is Bad Policy
On Tuesday, the Transportation Workers Union Local 234 (TWU) union bosses ordered nearly 5,000 public employees who work for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA)…
Blog
Uber and the Market Price
I have an article today up at the Foundation for Economic Education that looks at the UK’s employment tribunal ruling that Uber drivers are employees…
Blog
5 Scariest Halloween Regulations
Regulatory dark matter is a Washington boogeyman. In 2015, there were 39 regulations for every one law passed by Congress. That’s a lot of rules…
Blog
Congress: Do the Economy a Favor, Defund Harmful Labor Regulations
Research from the National Association of Manufacturers estimates that the aggregate costs of labor regulations imposed just this year by the Obama administration’s Department of…
Study
Congress Can Protect Workers Using the Power of the Purse
View Full Document as PDF In 2016 to date, the Obama administration has burdened the American public with nearly $100 billion in…
News Release
CEI Report Urges Congress to De-Fund Harmful Labor Regulations
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) report urges Congress to use its power of the purse to stop a spate of new rules imposed by…
Blog
Maine’s Proposed Minimum Wage Increase Has Tradeoffs
Maine is one of several states with a minimum wage increase on the election ballot this year, along with several cities and other smaller jurisdictions.
Blog
Unfunded Public Pension Obligations Grow to $5.6 Trillion
State public pension plans are underfunded by nearly $5.6 trillion nationwide, according to a new American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) study.
Blog
Communications Union Holds Sham Trial against Verizon Workers
In April, the Communication Workers of America (CWA) union ordered 36,000 Verizon employees to strike. Despite the fact that Verizon offered a fair deal in…
Blog
Three Ways the Next President Can Help America Out
At this moment, it’s likely the presidential candidates are busy preparing for the third and final debate tonight.
Foundation for Economic Education
One Driver’s Story Shows the Benefits of the Sharing Economy
When I was in London last week, I chatted with my Uber drivers whenever I used the service to get around the city. One driver’s…
Foundation for Economic Education
Work Is Changing for the Better, and Government Is Trying to Hold It Back
Should your boss tell you how to vote? To even ask the question is absurd today, but it was not always so. Prior to the…
Blog
Proposed Labor Law Overhaul Would Decrease Worker Choice, Increase Union Power
The Center for American Progress (CAP) released a report that calls for an overhaul of U.S. labor law. It cites increasing income inequality and dwindling…
The Daily Signal
The Sneaky Way Public Unions Are Getting Tax Dollars for Union Activities
Taxpayers expect their government to spend tax dollars wisely, on activities that benefit the public. But across the country, governments at all levels give away…
News Release
CEI Expert: Devastating Overtime Rule Must be Delayed
This week, the House will consider Rep. Tim Walberg’s (R-Mich.) Regulatory Relief for Small Businesses, Schools, and Nonprofits Act (H.R.6094), which delays the implementation…
Blog
House Considers Bill Delaying Department of Labor’s Overtime Rule
Today, the House Rules Committee will consider Representative Tim Walberg’s bill to delay implementation of the Department of Labor’s overtime rule.
InsideSources
House Republicans Fight to Delay Obama’s Overtime Rule
InsideSources discusses the overtime pay rule with Trey Kovacs. The Competitive Enterprise Institute has been one of several policy groups expressing concern over…
Blog
How the Next President Can Improve Labor and Employment Policy
With the presidential election heading into the first debate, what can the next president do to improve national labor and employment policy?…
Blog
RIP Reed Larson
Don’t have to pay union dues? You can probably thank Reed Larson.
Blog
Wells Fargo and the Principal-Agent Problem
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has celebrated the $100 million fine it has imposed on San Francisco bank Wells Fargo for its employees’ improper handling…
Blog
Arizona Supreme Court Rules Taxpayers Should Be Forced to Subsidize Government Unions
Yesterday, the Arizona Supreme Court determined that there is no better way to spend tax dollars than to give them to government unions so that…
Blog
Destroying the Marketplace in Education
The federal government happily subsidizes awful state colleges that graduate few if any of their students.
News Release
CEI Criticizes Arizona Supreme Court Ruling Against Taxpayers, For Labor Unions
Taxpayers must still pay for labor union activities as a result of a ruling today by the Arizona Supreme Court. CEI labor policy expert Trey Kovacs…
Blog
Three Fast Food Favorites from Franchises
It’s no secret that flexibility and freedom to experiment foster creativity.
Blog
Michigan State Legislator Introduces Worker’s Choice Bill
Yesterday, a state representative from Michigan introduced novel legislation that would provide public-sector workers’ choice.
Blog
Work Is Changing, Employment Regulation Needs to Change Too
For many people, the 9 to 5, office- or factory-based, corporate job that Dolly Parton lamented in the 1980s is a thing of the past.
Blog
Texas Constitution Bans Taxpayer Subsidies to Private Parties
It may seem obvious, but tax dollars are supposed to be used for purely public purposes, not the private benefit of an individual, corporation, or…
Investor's Business Daily
Regulators Want You Punching The Clock On A Smartphone App
It's not your grandfather's workplace anymore. As anybody who has worked for 20 or more years will tell you, the world of work has…
Politico
AFL-CIO poll: Trump not wooing union members
Politico's Morning Shift highlights Iain Murray's report on regulations threatening flexible work arrangements and innovation. The conservative-leaning Competitive Enterprise Institute is out with…
Forbes
Bosses, Timecards, and Other Relics Of The 20th Century
Believe it or not, working at corporations for the majority of one’s career is a relatively recent phenomenon. For centuries, people worked as generalists, often…
News Release
Report: Regulators Threaten Worker Opportunities, Aspirations
Regulators are taking action against the work preferences and aspirations of people in 21st Century America, according to a new Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) report…
Study
Punching the Clock on a Smartphone App?
View Full Document as PDF Should your boss tell you how to vote? To even ask the question is absurd today, but…
Blog
Labor Day Highlights Need for Labor Law Reform
Labor Day is a time when we show respect and celebrate the achievements of American workers. However, a better way to respect workers this Labor…
Inside Sources
Time to pare back union legal privileges
With Labor Day around the corner, a traditional holiday honoring American workers, it’s an apt time to take a hard look at the value of…
Blog
National Right to Work Committee Wrong on Air Traffic Control Reform
The handful of conservative critics of air traffic control reform get the facts all wrong.
Blog
For Affordable Housing, Ditch Prevailing Wage Laws
For residents of some of the nation’s major cities, it’s hardly news that housing costs are high, with little likelihood of their coming down any…
The Hill
One year later, Congress still needs to reverse NLRB joint employer standard
With economic recovery and job creation still hurting, Congress should make it a priority this September, when they are back in session, to take action…
Blog
Problems Ahead for Grad Student Unionizing
There seems to be an Obama administration wide dictate to ensure as many individuals as possible are to be considered employees. The reason for this…
Blog
NLRB’s New Joint Employer Standard Strikes Again
Just about one year ago, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) dramatically changed the rules on how companies are allowed to contract with other businesses…
Blog
Government Wage Mandates Bad for Business and Workers
Wage and hour mandates have seen an uptick of late at the federal, state, and local level.
Blog
Learn Your Workplace Rights with National Employee Freedom Week
The supposedly non-partisan NLRB is woefully inadequate in educating workers on their rights related to opting out of paying full-fledged union dues.
The Washington Free Beacon
Survey: 3 in 10 Union Members Want Out
The Washington Free Beacon discusses National Employee Freedom Week with Trey Kovacs. Trey Kovacs, a labor expert at the free market Competitive Enterprise…
Washington Examiner
One in four union members favors right-to-work
Washington Examiner discusses National Employee Freedom Week with Trey Kovacs. "National Employee Freedom Week is a crucial public service to counteract this assault…
News Release
Survey: One-Third of Union Workers Would Opt Out of Membership
A new survey shows nearly 30 percent of union members nationwide would opt out of union membership if they knew they could keep their job…
Blog
West Virginia Court Blocks “Right-to-Work” Law, Restricts Worker Choice
Workers in the state to have most recently enacted right to work, West Virginia, have lost their freedom to choose whether or not to financially…
Trib Live
Saturday Q&A: How NLRB muddled the joint employer standard
Trey Kovacs is a policy analyst focusing on labor issues for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank. He spoke to the Trib…
Bloomberg BNA
DOL’s Perez Walks Election Tightrope as Clinton Supporter
Bloomberg BNA speaks with Trey Kovacs on the head of the Labor Department's plans to travel to campaign on labor issues. The labor secretary…
Blog
Tepid Economic Performance Argues for Cutting Government Red Tape
How is the economy doing? It’s a mixed picture.
Blog
Joint Employer Liability Stifles Small Business
In Hillary Clinton’s nomination acceptance speech at the DNC convention, she said “Way too many dreams die in the parking lots of banks.” Obtaining financing…
Fox Business
One Year Later, the Joint Employer Standard Still Causing Confusion
This month marks the one-year anniversary of the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) Browning-Ferris decision, which radically redefined employment rules for businesses nationwide. Under the…
Blog
The Long Term Strategy Behind the Department of Labor’s Overtime Rule
It’s not often that proponents of labor regulation proponents admit to how forceful the rules have become. Yesterday, however, we had the benefit of one…
Blog
Cooperative Agreement on Wage and Hour Rules Could Backfire on Employers
As I discussed earlier this week, Subway came to terms with the Department of Labor (DOL) in what is being considered a cooperative agreement. Its…
Reason
Ridiculous Rules For Swordfish, Ceiling Fans, Grain Barges Help Make 2016 The Most Highly Regulated Year In History
Reason discusses the size of the federal regulatory state with Ryan Young and Wayne Crews. Ryan Young, a fellow with the Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
Corporate Social Responsibility Policies May Suffer under “Joint Employer” Standard
Companies adopting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies has been in vogue for a while now. According to the Financial Times, in 2014, U.S. and UK…
Politico
Legal challenges to minimum wage hikes
Politico's Morning Shift highlights Trey Kovac's report on how the National Labor Relations Board's joint employer standard eliminates jobs. The broadened joint employer standard…
Law 360
Think Tank Says NLRB Joint Employer Rule Harmful To Biz
Law 360 highlights Trey Kovacs's report on the National Labor Relations Board's new joint employer standard. Competitive Enterprise Institute's report called on Congress…
Inside Sources
REPORT: Joint-Employment Could Upend Unsuspecting Businesses
Inside Sources highlights Trey Kovacs's report on the unsuspecting ways the National Labor Relations Board's joint employer rule could impact businesses. The National Labor…
News Release
Report: Businesses Exposed to Unexpected Liabilities from Obama Joint Employer Regulations
A Competitive Enterprise Institute report released today reveals a set of unexpected liabilities American businesses and employers will face in the wake of recent changes…
Study
Redefining Workers out of a Job
View Document as PDF Federal agencies should be cautious when overturning established policies. Doing so creates uncertainty and frequently generates unintended consequences.
Blog
Subway Labor Agreement Could Lead to Problematic “Joint Employer” Status
It has been just about one year since the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a decision that rocked the franchise-franchisee world, which dramatically altered…
Washington Times
Preserving the right to work
Labor unions are aggressively filing lawsuits against right-to-work laws across the nation. Currently, in Idaho, Indiana, Wisconsin and West Virginia, organized labor is challenging workers’…
Nation's Restaurant News
Subway reaches labor deal with regulators
Nation's Restaurant News discusses the National Labor Relation Board's joint employer standard with Trey Kovacs. Trey Kovacs, a policy analyst for the free-market…
The Detroit News
WikiLeaks reveals DNC holds unions in contempt
The Detroit News discusses what the DNC email leak revealed about the party's relationship with labor unions with Trey Kovacs. The DNC pledges…
Blog
The DNC Platform and Inequality
As the DNC convention wraps up in Philadelphia, I took some time to look over the party platform’s planks on inequality. Iain Murray and I…
Blog
DNC Email Leak Shows Cozy Relationship between Democrats and Unions
The Democratic Party and labor unions are consistently accused of having a quid pro quo relationship, and for good reason. Emails from the DNC email…
Blog
Democratic Party Platform Seeks to Curb Worker Choice and Opportunity
The policies set forth in the Democrat platform are misguided – in order to help American workers really succeed in the 21st century, we should roll…
NBC News
Tom Perez, the Last Liberal Standing on Clinton’s VP Shortlist
NBC News reports on Tom Perez as a possible Vice President pick for Hillary Clinton, and quotes Iain Murray on Perez's reputation. Iain Murray, the…
Blog
Labor Regulators Set Sights on Microsoft
It has almost been one year since the National Labor Relations Board dramatically changed the definition of “joint employer” in Browning-Ferris.
Blog
Worst Procedural Abuses of the Obama Era: Regulation by Guidance
Federal agencies are to publish a notice of rulemaking and allow the public time to comment on the rule before it becomes final, or legally…
Washington Examiner
After Obama, GOP platform moves right on labor issues
Washington Examiner discusses the GOP platform's position on labor issues with Trey Kovacs. "It is a positive development that the GOP recognizes the…
Daily Caller
Feds Rule Unions No Longer Need Consent To Combine Workplaces
The Daily Caller discusses with Trey Kovacs a decision by labor regulators which makes it easier to unionize multiple workplaces as a single unit. …
Blog
Collective Bargaining Increases Inequality
I recently pointed out that minimum wage regulations increase inequality. That’s not what the “Fight-for-15” activists intend, but it is the result they would achieve.
Blog
Appropriations Committee Moves to Defund Harmful Labor Regulations
Yesterday, the full House Appropriations Committee held a markup of the Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill, which defunds numerous harmful regulations implemented by…
Blog
CEI Supports Defunding Obama’s Joint Employer Standard in House Appropriations Bill
This week, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee will markup the Fiscal Year 2017 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill. CEI commends the…
Blog
CEI Commends Rep. King’s Amendment to Halt Enforcement of Davis-Bacon
This week, the House is scheduled to vote on the Fiscal Year 2017 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill (H.R. 5538). CEI commends Rep. Steve King’s…
