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
DC Journal
This Labor Day, Respect the Right to Join (or Not) a Union
Labor Day was created to celebrate all the Americans who work to support their families. The least the government can do in return is…
News Release
US economy adds 162,000 jobs in August, higher than expected: CEI analysis
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report for August shows the economy added 162,000 jobs, higher than economists predicted. While the news is a…
Blog
The ‘no hire, no fire’ era is starting to crack
Families gathering around the barbeque next Monday to celebrate the national day off from work will probably be grilling more hot dogs and cheap…
Search Posts
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…
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