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
Blog
Unions Claim Moral High Ground, Kick Off Sleazy Smear Campaign
UNITE-HERE, the nation’s largest hospitality union, has assembled a new coalition of pro-union organizations to target Hyatt hotels with the goal of organizing the chain’s…
Blog
Update On TSA’s Lawlessness Over Body Scanners
As I noted previously, the Transportation Security Administration has failed to comply with a court order demanding that they initiate a notice-and-comment rulemaking regarding…
Blog
Obama’s jobs council a total flop
The Washington Times When President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness last gathered in January, he boasted, “This has not been a show council. This…
Blog
Maryland’s Public Pension Debacle Is Likely to Repeat Itself
The Maryland public employee pension system announced this week that it had achieved a dismal return rate on its investments of 0.36 percent — a…
Blog
Postal Service Set To Default On Multi-Billion Dollar Retiree Payment
Openmarket.org Today, the United States Postal Service (USPS) takes one step closer toward a taxpayer bailout. The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of…
Blog
Postal Service Set To Default On Multi-Billion Dollar Retiree Payment
Today, the United States Postal Service (USPS) takes one step closer toward a taxpayer bailout. The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the current…
Blog
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick One Signature Away From Health Care Mistake
Massachusetts is the latest in a string of states to transform private home health care providers into government employees. The disingenuous legislation will raise the…
Op-Eds
President Obama’s Deportation Deferral Order Is Legal
“We will see each other down the line in litigation.” That threat was leveled by Rep. Steve King (R-IA) at Department of Homeland Security (DHS)…
Blog
Alternative Teacher Certification: Opening the Education Market
Almost everyone can remember that one teacher who changed their life; the teacher who stimulated education and personal development of their students by virtue of…
Blog
Bloomberg Calls for Anarchy
Openmarket.org Here we go. Another mass shooting, another round of mass stupidity from progressive politicians and pundits. Latest example: In the wake of the…
Citation
Answers to Your Questions on Skilled Immigration
From The New York Times‘ Economix blog: Q. Do you agree with David Bier from the Competitive Enterprise Institute that “highly skilled foreign…
Blog
Pension Fund Activism Threatens Workers’ Retirement Security — And Taxpayers
While the underfunding of union pensions cannot be ascribed to any one cause, there is one that is troubling because it is so avoidable: pension…
Blog
To Fix The PBGC, Free Its Premiums
Setting the heavily underfunded Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on a sound financial footing has got to be one of the toughest jobs anywhere. The…
Blog
The Coming Public Pension Meltdown
While the impact of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board’s (GASB) new public pension reporting requirements won’t be known for some time, some indications of its…
Op-Eds
High-Skilled Immigration Restrictions Are Economically Senseless
Employer discrimination based on national origin has been illegal in the United States since the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, yet American immigration…
Blog
San Diego Mayor Questioned Over Pension Improvement Initiative
Before current San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders assumed office, the city faced a massive fiscal crisis. The previous mayor, Dick Murphy, had just resigned in…
Blog
CEI Podcast For July 19, 2012: Congress Takes On High-Skilled Immigration Reform
Congress will soon vote on a package of reforms for holders of the H-1B visa for high-skilled immigrants. Policy Analyst David Bier unpacks the proposed…
Blog
CEI Files Amicus Brief In Support Of EPIC’s Petition To Force A TSA Rulemaking On Strip-Search Machines
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) filed a brief of amici curiae in support of the Electronic Privacy Information Center's (EPIC) petition for writ…
Blog
Robert De Niro Admits Progressivism Kills Economies
Question: What do you get when a left-leaning state enlists a progressive celebrity to brag about how un-leftist the state is? Answer: The hilarious…
Blog
Yes, President Obama, Howard Johnson “Built” Your Favorite Motels, And Private Equity Saved Them
Over the weekend, President Obama sent a message to all American entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs. The message was, "Nothing special about you!" At a campaign…
Blog
Obama Administration Urged Self-Reliant Hispanics To Go On Food Stamps
The government encouraged self-sufficient Hispanics to apply for food stamps, in a Spanish-language radio campaign that continued until English speakers finally became aware…
Blog
Labor Update: Spreading The Wealth Around
Under a law signed by former President George W. Bush, all unions must publicly disclose their assets and expenses. Such disclosures reveal the political contributions…
Blog
SEIU Fails To Disclose Donations, Dues Skimming Continues
Unions were originally created to protect workers and fight for their rights. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), however, has lost sight of this principle.
Op-Eds
Why Everyone Should Fear E-Verify
“The only people who have to be afraid of the E-Verify system are illegal aliens and the employers who hire them.” That was Pennsylvania House…
Blog
$14 Billion More in Improper Government Payments
As CNN notes, federal and state governments overpaid unemployment benefits by $14 billion in 2011 — or approximately 11 percent of all benefits paid.
Blog
Sign A Petition Requiring The Transportation Security Administration To Follow The Law!
Over at the White House’s “We the People” site, a petition rapidly gathering signatures that demands that the Transportation Security Administration abide by a…
Citation
When Corporate Welfare is Illegal — the ‘Gift Clause’
From Tim Carney’s column in The Washington Examiner: When the Rhode Island government gave a $75 million loan guarantee to Curt Schilling’s software…
Blog
Unions: Political by Nature
Two items in The Wall Street Journal today highlight a feature of organized labor that distinguish it from other special interests: Unions, as they have existed in…
Blog
TSA Roundup
Everyone's favorite sexy-searchers are back in the news, but not for the right reasons.
Blog
Regulation Of The Day 224: Competing With Taxis
A cool startup company called Uber operates in about half a dozen cities in the U.S. and Canada, and is growing fast. Think of…
Blog
Wrongfully Detained Citizen Challenges Immigrant Detention Regime
“What's needed is immigration reform that finally lives up to our heritage as a nation of laws and as a nation of immigrants,” President Obama…
Blog
Quotas Limiting Male Science Enrollment: The New Liberal War on Science
Quotas limiting the number of male students in science may be imposed by the Education Department in 2013. The White House has promised…
Blog
More Evidence Of A Higher Education Bubble: Even Scientists Can’t Find Jobs In Their Field
Even “very good chemists with PhDs from Stanford can’t find jobs” in their field, and end up working in menial positions, like "low-wage office…
Op-Eds
Obama’s Secret Anti-Immigration Campaign
President Obama’s recent decision to defer deportations for certain children of undocumented immigrants and his administration’s lawsuit against Arizona’s tough immigration law could leave the…
Washington Post
Letter to the Editor: Why Politicians Answer to Unions
George F. Will’s discussion of grossly excessive public employee compensation [“Rahm and the teachers,” op-ed, July 5] rightly noted that unions exist to…
Blog
Scott Walker, Union Slayer
Capital Research Center On January 3, 2011, Scott Walker was sworn in as Wisconsin’s new governor. The state’s finances were a mess; the economy stalled.
Blog
Italy Kicks the Can on Labor Reform
Italy continues to put off addressing its most fundamental economic problem: impossibly rigid labor regulation. In this letter to The Wall Street Journal, I explain why…
Blog
Politicians’ Incentives to Give in to Government Union Demands
In his column today, George Will identifies a key problem in addressing overly generous government employee compensation: incentives. While he rightly places the blame…
Blog
A Dream Deferred: An Independence Day Story About Becoming An American Citizen
On July 4, Popehat’s Ken White posted a touching story about Filipino World War II veterans belatedly given their promised American citizenship in the…
Blog
Against the First Amendment: How Public-Sector Unions Neglect Free Speech
No one should be forced to join or contribute to any organization if they do not want to do so. This principle forms the bedrock…
Washington Post
38 Studios and the ‘Gift Clause’
Rhode Island’s $75 million loan guarantee to former baseball star Curt Schilling, like most government subsidies, promised to fulfill certain public objectives. Supporters of the…
Blog
Sunday Reflection: After the recall, big trouble for Big Labor
The Washington Examiner When it rains it pours, and right now organized labor is getting drenched. On June 5, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker survived…
Blog
How Restricted Borders Replaced Free Migration
By the late 19th century, liberalism had essentially defeated mercantilism as the West's dominant economic philosophy. With its ascent, state attempts to control trade and travel…
Daily Caller
Senate highway bill contains ‘smoothing’ pension gimmick
From Angela Malik's article on The Daily Caller: Marc Scribner, a transportation analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, explained that smoothing “in theory…
Daily Caller
Sunday Reflection: After the Recall, Big Trouble for Big Labor
When it rains it pours, and right now organized labor is getting drenched. On June 5, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker survived a union-driven recall election,…
Blog
Highway Bill Passes Congress, WSJ Blasts “Fiscal Accounting Hocus Pocus”
This afternoon, both the House and Senate approved the conference report of the largely Senate-crafted MAP-21 surface transportation reauthorization. The bill, which is expected…
Blog
Pension Reform: Could Michigan Be A Model State?
Appalled by the $22.4 billion fiscal millstone that the public teacher pension fund (MPSERS) has become, Michigan lawmakers hope to make long-overdue structural reforms.
Blog
Union Bosses: Are They Con Men?
The definition of a con man is “a dishonest person who uses clever means to cheat others out of something of value.” Nowadays, a fitting…
Blog
Former GAO Auditor: Public Pension Underfunding Worse than Pew Estimates
This week, GASB approved new standards that would require state pensions that are less than 80 percent funded to base income projections on lower — more…
Blog
Highway Bill Would Continue Pension Underfunding Shell Game
As if the Senate Highway Bill (S. 1813) could not become more of a lumbering monster, along comes its Section 40312, which allows "pension…
News Release
Threat of Pension Fund Bailouts Lurks in Senate Highway Bill
Washington, D.C., June 27, 2012 – Hidden in the ever-expanding Senate Highway Bill (S. 1813) is a provision that would make the already serious…
Blog
Georgia Offers “Amnesty” to Businesses From Its Tough Immigration Law
More amnesty from immigration laws by prosecutorial discretion! No, not the president’s order to defer deportation for certain children of undocumented immigrants, but the decision…
Blog
The Highway Bill’s Sleeper Funding Provision: Pension Smoothing
Things appear to have turned around for the stalled surface transportation reauthorization talks. Conference committee members worked over the weekend trying to come to a…
Daily Caller
Why Unions Don’t Want Workers to Earn More
During the recent debate on the farm bill, the Senate voted down an amendment that would allow unionized employers to give workers raises based…
Blog
The Growing Threat of a PBGC Bailout
Everyone hates a bailout. Or at least that's what everyone says, until circumstances force some business leaders to seek them and politicians to grant them…
Blog
Will New GASB Rules End States’ Fuzzy Pension Math?
Today, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) voted to approve new government accounting standards that will provide a clearer picture of the liabilities taxpayers across the…
Blog
Supreme Court Limits Arizona’s Anti-Immigration Law
The Supreme Court has struck down portions of Arizona’s SB 1070 — the controversial immigration law that targets undocumented migrant workers. The Court ruled that…
News Release
Supreme Court Immigration Ruling a Modest Victory for Free Market Reforms
Washington, D.C., June 25, 2012 – The Supreme Court has struck down portions of Arizona’s SB 1070—the controversial immigration law that targets undocumented…
Gold Water Institute
The Gift Clause: Big Government Kryptonite
Gov. Scott Walker’s recall election victory and California ballot measures garnered the bulk of headlines this month. The results indicate voters are fed up with…
Blog
Who’s the Outsourcer-in-Chief? Obama
Earlier, after discussing all the jobs that have been sent overseas by the Obama administration using taxpayer subsidies, I dubbed President Obama the “…
Blog
The Gift Clause: Big Government Kryptonite
Gov. Scott Walker’s recall election victory and California ballot measures garnered the bulk of headlines this month. The results indicate voters are fed up with…
Blog
Supreme Court Ruling in FCC v. Fox Television Stations Undermines Vague Regulations at SEC, EEOC, and NLRB
In its ruling yesterday in FCC v. Fox Television Stations, the Supreme Court overturned the FCC’s finding that Fox Television was guilty of…
Blog
States should use gift clauses to control government spending
Deseret News Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker seems to understand what his recall victory really means. “It was a triumph more than anything for middle-class…
The Wichita Eagle
Use ‘Gift Clause’ to Prohibit Subsidies
Appeared in The Wichita Eagle, The Tallahassee Democrat, and The Yankton Daily Press. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker seems to understand what his recall…
Blog
CEI Podcast for June 21, 2012: Free Speech for Me, and for Thee
Labor Policy Counsel Vinnie Vernuccio explains why today's 7-2 Supreme Court decision in the Knox v. SEIU case is an important victory for free speech.
Blog
Government Unions Stall San Diego Pension Reform
Openmarket.org Collective bargaining privileges are facilitating the San Diego Municipal Employee Association’s (MEA) ability to wreak havoc over voter-approved pension reform. These privileges elevate union…
Blog
FCC v. Fox Television: Protection Against Vague Laws Applies to Civil Cases and Protects Businesses
Past Supreme Court rulings like FCC v. Pacifica (1978) allow the federal government to ban "indecency" in broadcasting, and give the government a freer…
Blog
Supreme Court Rules against Union Forced Speech
Thomas Jefferson said that, "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and…
Blog
Government Unions Stall San Diego Pension Reform
Collective bargaining privileges are facilitating the San Diego Municipal Employee Association’s (MEA) ability to wreak havoc over voter-approved pension reform. These privileges elevate union special…
Blog
President’s Deportation Order Is Legal
"[Immigration enforcement] has prosecutorial discretion and exercises it every day." That was not President Obama defending his administration's decision last week to defer…
News Release
Unions Lose Big in Supreme Court Ruling Today, Knox v. SEIU
Washington, D.C., June 21, 2012 – The United States Supreme Court today, in a 7-2 decision, ruled against labor unions forcing unwilling workers to subsidize…
Blog
Support Rep. Diane Black’s MTI to Halt Misguided Federal Support for “Distracted Driving” Laws
Today, Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) issued a notice of her intent to offer a motion to instruct (MTI) [PDF] highway bill conferees to oppose…
Blog
Budget Crises and the Rule of Teacher Unions
This last May, a California teacher named Michelle Apperson received a pink slip from the Sacramento City schools. Yet she was not let go because of…
News Release
CEI to Score Amendment to Farm Bill
What: Rubio Amendment (#2166 ) to the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act (S.3240), known as the Rewarding Achievement and Incentivizing Successful Employees (RAISE) Act…
Blog
Communication Workers of America Remain a Thorn in Verizon’s Side
Communication Workers of America is seeking government intervention in order to protect union jobs at Verizon’s unprofitable wireline industry. If the union’s call for intervention…
Blog
To Reform Public Pensions, Reform GASB Rules
Many public pension plans in the United States make riskier investments than plans in Canada and Europe, according to a new study by researchers…
Blog
Bullying and Bailouts — UAW’s Strategy for Continued Existence
The UAW and its President Bob King recently targeted Nissan to be their first union-affiliated foreign automobile factory, despite the fact that Canton, Mississippi, plant…
The Wichita Eagle
Midwest Unions’ Desperate Last Stand
The voters of Wisconsin and California spoke loud and clear. They are tired of the special privileges and lavish benefits given to government unions and…
The Wichita Eagle
H1-B Visa Quotas Greatly Restrain Small Business Expansion
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) announced this week that it had filled its annual H-1B visa quota for foreign high-skilled workers. The announcement comes…
Blog
Sen. Rand Paul Introduces Bills to Dramatically Rein in TSA
Yesterday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced two bills aimed at reducing the power of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). S.3303 would end the TSA’s…
Blog
Department of Homeland Security: Some Undocumented Aliens Who Came As Children Can Stay
Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it will begin to grant two-year deportation deferrals for undocumented immigrants up to 30 years old…
Blog
China Takes Hard Stance on EU’s Airline Emissions Charges
It looks like it could begin a trade war — in airplanes. China has announced that it may impound European Union airplanes in retaliation if…
Blog
CEI Podcast for June 13, 2012: Smarter Transportation Funding
When the federal government gives out transportation funding to the states, it attaches a lot of strings. The solution, according to Land-use and Transportation Policy…
Blog
Employment Non-Discrimination Act Makes as Little Sense as Chemotherapy for a Cold
American business is quite happy to hire gay and lesbian employees, and needs no federal mandate to do so. Virtually all Fortune 500 companies already…
Blog
Response: Are Unions Necessary?
Derek Thompson from The Atlantic recently wrote an article titled “Are unions necessary?” In this article, he poses the following questions: If our goal is…
Blog
The Private Sector Is Not “Doing Fine,” Contrary to Claims by President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Far more people have lost their jobs in the private sector than in the public sector, and the percentage of the economy consumed by…
Blog
Union Bosses Care More about Collective Bargaining than Students
Openmarket.org In Massachusetts and Louisiana, union bosses’ recent actions indicate collective bargaining privileges and lavish contracts are their number one priority. First in Massachusetts,…
Blog
Union Bosses Care More about Collective Bargaining than Students
In Massachusetts and Louisiana, union bosses' recent actions indicate collective bargaining privileges and lavish contracts are their number one priority. First in Massachusetts, the AFL-CIO…
The Wichita Eagle
Are Immigration Laws Like Jim Crow?
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley was forced to defend his state’s harsh immigration law recently against charges that it amounts to a return to segregation-era racially…
Blog
In New York, a Private/Public Sector Union Rift
The fact that government employee unions have been at the center of budget debates across the nation underscores their outsize influence on state and local…
Blog
Union Leaders, Not Members, Determine Union Political Donations
Mother Jones blogger Kevin Drum dismisses the fact that 38 percent of Wisconsin union households voted to retain Governor Scott Walker as “exactly the…
Blog
Taxpayers Win as Dulles Rail Drops Pro-Union Contracting Rules
In a win for Old Dominion taxpayers, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) yesterday rescinded a pro-union project labor agreement (PLA) for the building of the Metro…
Blog
After Wisconsin, whither Government Unions ?
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s victory in a recall election at which organized labor threw everything but the kitchen sink will likely encourage lawmakers in other…
Blog
In Confronting Unions, Walker Further than Reagan
When Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker first put forward his public sector labor reform, organized labor and its allies tried to portray the legislation -- especially…
Daily Mail
Scott Walker’s Victory is a Victory for Worker Freedom
You wouldn’t know it from the recall election campaign itself, but yesterday’s failed attempt to unseat reforming Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin was all about…
News Release
Wisconsin Recall FAIL: This is What Democracy Looks Like
Washington, D.C., June 6, 2012 – As a result of the failure of labor union forces to recall the Wisconsin governor yesterday, taxpayers were the…
Blog
Wisconsin Recall: A High Stakes Battle
The past 15 months in Wisconsin have been tumultuous to say the least. Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin is facing a recall after labor unions…
Blog
Unemployment Rises, Debunking Obama Stimulus Claims
“The joblessness rate jumped to 8.2 percent. What makes that number particularly painful is that the Obama Administration claimed that the unemployment rate today would…
Blog
Maryland Gov. O’Malley Grants Big Labor Protections from Disclosure
Openmarket.org In Maryland, labor unions join the protected ranks of doctors and lawyers with respect to confidentiality privileges. In early May, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley…
Blog
Maryland Gov. O’Malley Grants Big Labor Protections from Disclosure
In Maryland, labor unions join the protected ranks of doctors and lawyers with respect to confidentiality privileges. In early May, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signed…
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