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
The AI Jobs apocalypse gets postponed, as CEI predicted
The prophesies of doom that artificial intelligence would destroy jobs have been put on hold recently. Businesses, including the ones that use AI technology,…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Questioning the AI jobs doomsday with Sean Higgins
In this week’s episode we cover making home appliances great again, fighting price controls on health care, research on AI-fueled…
Blog
Why Big Tech is postponing the AI jobs doomsday
The heads of big tech have recently changed their tune regarding artificial intelligence’s effect on jobs. The emerging technology will bolster the workforce,…
Search Posts
News Release
Union Subsidy Wastes Millions of Taxpayer Dollars in Florida
Florida has a problem with taxpayer giveaways to labor unions due to a practice known as “release time,” explains a new report from Florida’s James…
Study
Union Time on the Taxpayer Dime
View Full Document as PDF Published with the James Madison Institute Over the past 20 years, Floridians have consistently made conscious decisions…
Reason
Instead of Filling Vacancies, Congress Should Abolish the NLRB
Reason discusses the National Labor Relations Board vacancies with Trey Kovacs. The U.S. Senate voted earlier this month to confirm Marvin Kaplan’s appointment…
Blog
Congress Expands Investigation into Inappropriate Federal Employee Political Activity
U.S. Postal Service employees and union engaged in a “systematic violation” of the Hatch Act, a law placing limits on political activity performed by federal…
U.S. News & World Report
Why Google Could Lose
The fired and now-infamous Google engineer James Damore may have a federal case against his former employer. In the aftermath of Damore’s 10-page memo criticizing…
Blog
Workers Desire the Freedom to Choose
It is past time to give workers the freedom to choose that they desire.
Blog
Rethinking the National Labor Relations Board
The NLRB has become a highly partisan agency that does more harm than good.
InsideSources
Worker Choice — Pay Dues, or Not
Forcing workers to pay union dues as a condition of employment may soon become a policy of the past, at least for government employees. As…
Blog
Occupational Licensing Reform in the Beehive State
Occupational licensing reform is a winner in terms of giving the working poor greater opportunities to earn a living…
Washington Times
Federal Government Needs Major Overhaul to Cut Red Tape, Reduce Costs: Report
The Washington Times covers CEI’s latest publication Shrinking Government Bureaucracy. Shrinking the federal bureaucracy would spur economic growth and reduce costs to taxpayers,…
Washington Free Beacon
Report: Reducing Regulatory Agencies’ Authority Could Boost Economy, Increase Job Creation
The Washington Free Beacon covers CEI’s latest publication Shrinking Government Bureaucracy. Reducing some of government’s regulatory agencies’ authority could boost economic growth and…
InsideSources
REPORT: Why the Federal Labor Board Should Be Dismantled
InsideSources covers Trey Kovacs’ suggested reforms for the National Labor Relations Board as part of CEI’s most recent publication Shrinking Governmnet Bureaucracy. The…
OneNewsNow
Min. Wage Study Suggests a Robot Works for Free
OneNewsNow discusses a new report by the National Labor Relations Board with Trey Kovacs. A new study has concluded what many people have…
Study
Rethinking the National Labor Relations Board
View Full Document as PDF The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency that oversees private sector labor relations in the…
Blog
NLRB Fails to Explain Departure from Joint Employer Precedent
Today, for the second time this week, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a decision that…
News Release
Court Ruling in NLRB Joint Employer Case Against CNN Points to Urgent Need for Reform
Today the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals gave a partial win to news network CNN in a labor dispute with the National Labor Relations Board…
News Release
Improving Job Numbers Emerge but Damaging Regulations Remain a Problem
The U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate declined to 4.3 percent, the lowest since March 2001, according to the U.S.
Blog
Can You Make a Living without a Government License?
There is an expanding strange-bedfellows coalition that would like to see fewer professions for which people need a government-issued license.
Blog
$15 Minimum Wage Could Cost 47,000 Jobs in a Single U.S. County
The Washington Post has “sobering news for $15 minimum-wage boosters.”…
Washington Examiner
Senate Confirms Marvin Kaplan for NLRB
Washington Examiner covers Marvin Kaplan’s confirmation to the National Labor Relations Board. The Senate on Wednesday approved President Trump’s pick of Marvin Kaplan…
The Washington Free Beacon
Senate Confirms Second GOP Board Member to NLRB
The Washington Free Beacon covers Marvin Kaplan’s confirmation to the National Labor Relations Board. Republicans are no longer the minority at the National…
News Release
Urgent Labor Reforms Depend on Senate Confirming Trump Labor Nominees
Update: The Senate voted on August 2, 2017 to confirm Marvin Kaplan to the National Labor Relations Board. The Senate is expected to vote today…
The Daily Signal
One Union’s Desperate Effort to Unionize Automakers in the South
A union organizing campaign at one workplace does not normally generate national headlines, but the 10-year-plus effort by the United Auto Workers to unionize the…
InsideSources
House Introduces Bill to End Joint-Employment Uncertainty
InsideSources discusses joint employer with Trey Kovacs. House lawmakers are looking to add clarity to a patchwork of legal interpretations Thursday by introducing…
Blog
Senate Committee Advances Union Subsidy Transparency Bill
The Senate took a great step forward today to bringing transparency to the wasteful practice of official time. Now it is time to finish the…
Blog
Congress Introduces Cure to Job-Killing ‘Joint Employer’ Standard
It is of the utmost importance to repeal regulations, like the joint employer rule, that stifle small businesses.
The Daily Caller
Dems Push For $15 Minimum Wage While Paying Their Own Staff WAY Less
The Daily Caller discusses the Democrats’ proposed $15 minimum wage hike with Hans Bader. The Democratic Party is pushing for a federal $15…
News Release
CEI Praises House Plan to Roll Back NLRB Joint Employer Rule
Today, Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL) will introduce a bipartisan bill to roll back the National Labor Relations Board’s controversial joint employer ruling from 2015. The ruling…
Blog
Democrats Peddle Job-Killing Proposal in ‘Better Deal’ Blueprint
A $15 national minimum wage would eliminate more than 7 million jobs, according to a 2016 study.
Blog
Restore Economic Opportunity by Repealing Occupational Licensing Rules
To increase growth, we need to get rid of some of the unnecessary barriers to economic opportunity that have arisen in recent years – such…
Blog
Bills Allow States to Protect Workers from Identity Theft and Stalking
Protecting workers from identity theft and stalking should be a bipartisan issue. While Republicans and Democrats can hardly agree on whether the sky is blue,…
Citation
CEI Responds to Secretary of Labor Acosta’s Comments on Job Creation
Ahead of President Trump’s “Made in America” roundtable event, Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta offered comments on job creation. Competitive Enterprise Institute Policy Analyst…
Blog
Union Seeks to Protect Jobs of the Past Rather than Train Members for Jobs of the Future
The better way to defray the negative impact on workers from automation is through better education, skills development, and removing restrictions on work and entrepreneurs.
InsideSources
Amazon Faces Union Pressure in Whole Foods Merger
InsideSources discusses union pressure in the Whole Foods-Amazon deal with Trey Kovacs. A major union with members in the retail food industry released a…
Blog
Don’t ‘Liberate’ Interns from Valuable Career Experience
In a diverse labor market in which college students can choose between many different combinations of work, recreation, study over the course of a summer,…
Blog
Gosar Amendment on Labor Costs a Test for Republicans as Party of Fiscal Responsibility
For far too long, the federal government has squandered countless tax dollars by inflating the cost of public works projects.
Blog
Time to End Democrat Majority at the National Labor Relations Board
Filling the vacant seats on the NLRB is imperative to returning the agency to a body of impartial members that represents the public interest in…
News Release
CEI Leads Coalition Urging Swift Senate Vote on Trump NLRB Nominees
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today sent a coalition letter to the Senate urging swift confirmation of President Trump’s two nominees to fill vacancies on…
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Urging Senate to Confirm Marvin Kaplan and William J. Emanuel to the National Labor Relations Board
View Full Document as PDF Dear Senator: The undersigned organizations urge the Senate to confirm Marvin Kaplan and William J. Emanuel to…
Blog
Joint Employer Standard an Obstacle to Job Creation and Entrepreneurship
Congress is working on legislation to address and clarify joint employment in a way that enables entrepreneurs to start businesses without regulatory roadblocks. …
Reuters
Conservative Group Backs Supreme Court Challenge to Forced Union Dues
Reuters covers CEI’s amicus brief filing in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 regarding forced union dues. A business-backed think tank has urged the U.S.
Bloomberg BNA
FedEx Freight Drivers in NC Decertify Teamsters
Bloomberg BNA discusses the decertification of Teamsters by FedEx Freight in North Carolina with Trey Kovacs. FedEx Freight drivers in Charlotte, N.C., voted…
Inside Sources
A Whirlwind Week for the Fight for $15
Inside Sources discusses Seattle’s $15 minimum wage study with Hans Bader. The Fight for $15 movement went into the July Fourth weekend facing…
Washington Examiner
NLRB Policy Could Stifle Expansion of Apprenticeships and Worker Training Opportunities
As extremely partisan as Congress has become nowadays, there are glimmers of hope for agreement on reforms to help boost jobs and economic opportunity. Republicans,…
Blog
Conservatives Oppose Forced Unionism, not Unions
The July/August edition of The Atlantic features an article by Jonathan Rauch, “The Conservative Case for Unions,” in which he cites Barry Goldwater and…
The Columbus Dispatch
Act Makes Union Bosses Listen to Workers
President of the AFL-CIO Richard Trumka recently delivered a heap of advice on “compromise” in a commencement speech to Penn State Fayette Graduates. His college…
Washington Free Beacon
Sudden Death for Obama OT Rules
The Washington Free Beacon covers the Trump administration’s decision not to defend President Obama’s proposed overtime regulations. The Trump administration will not defend…
News Release
CEI Praises Trump Decision on Labor Overtime Rule
The decision not to defend the controversial Obama-era mandate is a much-needed step toward repealing the misguided regulation.
Roll Call
Trump Nominees for Labor Board Could Nix Obama-era Rules
Roll Call discusses President Trump’s NLRB nominations with Trey Kovacs. President Donald Trump’s nomination of two attorneys to serve on the National Labor…
Blog
New Bill Requires VA Employees to Serve Veterans Instead of Union
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) has introduced legislation to ensure federal employees working at the Department of Veterans Affairs serve veterans instead of performing union business.
Staff & Scholars
Sean Higgins
Research Fellow
- Deregulation
- Labor and Employment
Ryan Young
Senior Economist and Director of Publications
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Regulatory Reform
Ivan Osorio
Editorial Director
- Labor and Employment
Iain Murray
Vice President for Strategy and Senior Fellow
- Banking and Finance
- Trade and International