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
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)…
Search Posts
Blog
Real-World Effects of Pension Debt
Debates over public pension finance often have an abstract quality, taking place outside most people’s immediate concerns. Yet, the real-world effects can be quite tangible.
Blog
Unions Defend Job-Killing Regulation
A holdover Obama regulation is costing businesses billions of dollars and workers millions of job opportunities. A survey conducted by the International Franchise Association found…
Blog
Amazon under Pressure to Accept Union
This week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Amazon employees should unionize, and that the company should welcome losing a direct line of…
Blog
Jobs Numbers Continue Generally Positive Trend
The latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggest that the economy is continuing on a steady course, at least as far as…
The Washington Free Beacon
Critics: Trend to Raise Minimum Wage Will Cost Potentially Millions of Jobs
The Washington Free Beacon cited Fellow Ryan Young on minimum wage: Ryan Young, a fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a free market…
Fox Business
A Reversal of this Obama-Era Job-Killing Rule is ‘Urgently’ Needed: NLRB
The National Labor Relations Board is on the verge of restoring sanity to a hugely important yet little-known government rule that impacts the future existence…
Blog
Oregon Introduces Taxpayer-Funded Union Subsidy
Earlier this week, I took a look at legislation that has been enacted to undercut the Supreme Court’s decision last year in Janus v. AFSCME.
LifeZette
Democrats Unveil Bill to Raise Federal Minimum Wage to $15
LifeZette cited Policy Analyst Trey Kovacs on minimum wage: Minimum wage research has been fairly mixed in terms of impact The Heritage Foundation, a…
Blog
In Aftermath of ‘Janus’ Decision, Blue States Push Pro-Union Bills
Prior to the landmark Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME, government unions were already devising ways to keep members and dues flowing. In a…
The Washington Examiner
Even After Janus, Unions are Still Wrongly Forcing Speech on Public Employees
Despite a Supreme Court ruling last year that forcing public workers to pay union fees as a condition of employment goes against First Amendment free…
Blog
Time to Restore Traditional Joint-Employer Standard
This week the public comment period closes in regards to the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) proposed rule to modify the standard for joint employment. This…
News Release
Federal Minimum Wage Hike Would Cost Jobs, Opportunity, CEI Experts Warn
House Democrats are expected to introduce legislation on Wednesday to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024 - a policy that…
Blog
Teachers Paid to Walk Off the Job?
The United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union contract negotiations with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) have broken down. UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl called…
Comment
CEI Comments to NLRB on Proposed Joint Employer Rulemaking
On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), I respectfully submit the following comments in response to the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) Notice of…
Investor's Business Daily
Minimum Wage Hikes in 2019 Will Hurt Minority Youth by Killing Jobs
Investors Business Daily cited Senior Fellow Angela Logomasini on minimum wage hikes for the coming year. As the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Angela Logomasini recently…
News Release
CEI Urges Supreme Court to Hear Lawsuit Against Exclusive Union Representation Mandate
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) in an amicus brief asked the Supreme Court to hear a lawsuit arguing that exclusive labor union representation violates the…
Blog
Great Jobs Numbers Don’t Assuage Trade War Worries
Today’s jobs numbers were a surprise to everyone—312,000 jobs added in December was almost twice the consensus view of economists of 176,000. Strong wage growth…
Legal Brief
Brief of Amicus Curiae of CEI in Support of the Petitioner in Uradnik v. Inter Faculty Organization, et al.
View Full Document as PDF In Janus v. AFSCME, this Court recognized the importance of this issue in its holding…
The Washington Examiner
States Ring in New Year with Job-Killing Minimum Wage Hikes
The sound of small-business storefronts slamming closed could replace bright, ringing sounds of the holiday season as state minimum wage laws were phased in last…
Products
Free to Prosper: Labor and Employment
View the full chapter on labor and employment here Increases in productivity, not artificial increases in labor prices, are the key to economic growth…
Blog
Year in Review 2018: Labor and Employment
There was a mix of good and bad news in the labor and employment policy space in 2018. A tremendous gain was made in the…
Blog
New Joint Employer Rule Means More Jobs, Not Lower Wages
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is in the process of implementing a regulation that would restore the traditional standard for when a worker is…
NewsOk
Point of View: Walking off the Job at Taxpayers’ Expense
Some teachers in Oklahoma got paid by taxpayers to walk off their jobs in April, newly released information reveals.
Fox Business
Lessons from the GM layoffs: End the tariffs and the subsidies
General Motors announced on Monday it will be laying off 14,700 workers, closing five factories, and discontinuing several car models. This has caused some soul-searching in the…
The Hill
A Solution to Stop Our Veterans from Dying While Waiting for Medical Care
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs has a simple but crucial mission. The agency’s website quotes President Lincoln’s promise to veterans to describe it:“To care…
Blog
Massachusetts Teachers Union Dues Do Not ‘Stay Local’
Labor unions like to promote the narrative that dues payments stay local. If you peruse union websites, a consistent message appears that reads something like this:…
GOP USA
‘Union Business On The Taxpayer’s Dime’: Trump Administration Cracks Down On ‘Official Time’ At VA
GOP USA cited CEI’s Policy Analyst Trey Kovacs on Virginia union policy. The Department of Veterans Affairs this week will stop paying employees in…
Blog
National Labor Relations Board Member Cleared of Ethics Conflict
Republican appointees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have become the target of an ongoing campaign by Democrats to silence their voices and ability…
Citation
Veterans Department Puts Medical Professionals Back to Work for Veterans Instead of Labor Unions
The U.S. Department of Veterans has long been paying certain employees to conduct labor union business on the taxpayer dime, but today the agency announced…
Blog
What Do the Midterms Mean for Labor and Employment?
The primary labor and employment statutes—National Labor Relations Act and Fair Labor Standards Act—have not been substantially amended for decades. A divided government is not…
Inside Sources
Displaced Workers Could Benefit From Apprenticeships, but for One Labor Regulation in the Way
By most measures, the economy is booming. Unemployment is at a 49-year low of 3.7 percent. The economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.5 percent last quarter.
Blog
AFL-CIO’s Own Workers Threaten a Strike
AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka frequently lambasts companies for not “sharing the wealth” with employees. Joining a union is a surefire way to see an increase…
News Release
October Brought 250,000 New Jobs, Despite Bad Trade Restrictions
The American economy added 250,000 jobs in October, the U.S. Labor Department announced today. The unemployment rate was meanwhile unchanged from last month, at 3.7…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposing Section 202 of S.3278 of the Protecting Taxpayers Act
The 17 undersigned organizations together ask Congress to oppose Section 202 of S. 3278, the Protecting Taxpayers Act, and similar efforts to grant the IRS…
Blog
Labor Department Listens to Public Input on Overtime Rule
Yesterday, I attended the Department of Labor’s final overtime listening session. It was an opportunity for the DOL to hear from the public on how…
ABC News
Inside America: How Steelworkers View The Midterm Elections
ABC News cited CEI’s Fellow Ryan Young on the steel industry job market. Despite the deal with Canada and Mexico, the trade war…
Washington Examiner
Conservatives Ask Senate To Block Chuck Schumer-Favored Labor Board Nominee
Washington Examiner cited CEI’s rejection of NLRB nominee Mark Pearce. A coalition of conservative groups urged Senate lawmakers to oppose the renomination of Mark…
The Washington Times
Conservative Groups Call On Senate To Reject Trump Nominee To NLRB
The Washington Times cited CEI’s rejection of NLRB nominee Mark Pearcet. Conservative groups are urging a Senate committee to reject President Trump’s nomination of Democrat …
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Letter to Senate Opposing Mark Pearce Nomination to the NLRB
The undersigned organizations strongly oppose the nomination of Mark Pearce to serve on the five-member National Labor Relations Board. Pearce’s legacy as Chairman of the…
VOA
US Steel Workers Questioning Value Of Trump’s Tariffs
VOA cited CEI’s Vice President for Strategy and Senior Fellow Iain Murry on U.S. tariffs. Ian Murry is a labor expert with the…
Daily Caller
Politics Undermines Ethics Rules at the National Labor Relations Board
Republican appointees to the nation’s most powerful labor policy-making board have become the target of an ongoing campaign to sideline their voices and votes.
Blog
Deregulation Coming from Labor Department
Deregulation is a topline goal of the current administration. Leading the pack in terms of costs savings from reducing red tape is the Department…
Voice of America
Are US Labor Unions Souring On Trump’s Tariffs?
Voice of America cited CEI’s Vice President for Strategy and Senior Fellow Ian Murry on U.S. tariffs. But U.S. steel companies may be…
Inside Sources
Displaced Workers Could Benefit From Apprenticeships, but for One Labor Regulation in the Way
By most measures, the economy is booming. Unemployment is at a 49-year low of 3.7 percent. The economy grew at an annualized…
Blog
National Labor Relations Board Responds to Democrats’ Invented Ethics Concerns
On September 17, Sen. Warren sent a letter to the NLRB warning that it must “fully comply with federal ethics regulations during reconsideration” of whether…
Blog
New Federal Labor Directive Holds Unions Accountable to Workers
Last week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) general counsel’s office issued a directive that provides clarification for when field offices should pursue charges “against unions…
Blog
Elizabeth Warren Imagines Another Ethics Concern at National Labor Relations Board
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is attempting to undermine another case before the National Labor Relations Board. In a transparent political stunt, the senator is pushing…
Spero News
Trump Administration Marks Victory in Labor Relations Board Ruling
Spero News cited CEI’s Policy Analyst Trey Kovac on NLRB proposed rule announcement. Trey Kovacs of the Competitive Enterprise Institute released a statement…
Blog
CEI Seeks Communications between National Labor Relations Board and Senate Committee
A political campaign to obstruct the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from properly administering the National Labor Relations Act is in full…
The Daily Caller
Trump’s Labor Board May Overturn Obama’s Joint-Employer Rule
The Daily Caller cited CEI’s Policy Analyst Trey Kovacs on NLRB’s Joint-Employer Standard proposal. “The NLRB’s proposed rule seeks to restore longstanding principles on what establishes…
