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
Court rejects New York bid to take over federal labor enforcement
An effort by the New York legislature to usurp the role of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the main federal labor law enforcement agency,…
Law & Liberty
America’s Hidden Judiciary
Unbeknownst to most Americans, federal regulatory agencies have their own court system for adjudicating disputes that businesses and citizens have with regulators. These agencies rely…
Blog
New York, California make a play for federal labor law enforcement
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the main federal labor law enforcement agency, currently lacks a quorum to act. Ordinarily, that type of federal…
Search Posts
Blog
Study Finds that Outlawing Work Reduces Employment
George Mason’s Mercatus Center has provided further proof that California’s AB5 law, which was intended to boost worker employment by preventing them from being misclassified…
Blog
Flight attendants try to decertify union that most never voted for
One of the underlying flaws with US labor law is that it sees workers and the unions that represent them as synonymous, rather than as…
Daily Caller
Biden Admin’s Latest Labor Rule Poised To Upend Key Sector Of The Economy
CEI’s Sean Higgins was cited in the Daily Caller on a recent labor rule: “The consequence is that it gives regulators new powers to…
Blog
Congressional Review Act vote shows cracks in joint employer rule
A vote in Congress Friday showed off the cracks in the support for the National Labor Relations Board’s new “joint employer” rule. It is…
Washington Examiner
GOP tees up effort to roll back Biden’s ‘overly broad’ joint employer rule
CEI’s Sean Higgins is cited in the Washington Examiner on recent GOP efforts to roll back an ‘overly broad’ joint employer rule: Sean Higgins, a…
Citation
GOP tees up effort to roll back Biden’s ‘overly broad’ joint employer rule
CEI’s Sean Higgins is cited on the Washington Examiner about a GOP effort to rollback employer rules: Sean Higgins, a labor policy expert at the…
Blog
Power to the… regulators? That’s what new worker classification rule will do
The US Labor Department’s new worker classification rule is a major step backwards, causing trouble for worker and employer alike as they try to…
U.S. Department of Labor
Biden Labor Rule Undermines Independent Contractors
The Biden Labor Department today put out a new rule that makes it harder for workers to choose independent contractor status. Competitive Enterprise Institute…
News Release
216,000 jobs added in December, employers looking ahead to 2024: CEI Analysis
The U.S. economy added 216,000 jobs in December, slightly less than the year’s average gains. CEI experts explain why the labor market is in…
Blog
The existential threat AI poses to the Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild recently concluded a lengthy strike against Hollywood studios with a contract that included new protections for its members from artificial…
National Review
Adam Smith, a Roman Emperor, and Slavery
Adam Smith tells a story of the new Emperor Augustus and his reaction to the behavior of one of his allies, an equestrian (or “knight”) magnate…
Blog
Common sense has left the building: The push to redefine joint employer rule
The National Labor Relations Board did something earlier this year that union leaders and their allies on Capitol Hill have long demanded: It expanded…
News Release
Economy adds 199,000 jobs in November: CEI analysis
The U.S. economy added 199,000 jobs in the month of November, according to newly released government data. It’s a tightening labor market, with rising…
Blog
Is UAW still an automaker union? How Gaza became a top issue
The name “United Auto Workers” would appear to pretty clearly indicate who that union represents, but it is increasingly becoming inaccurate. Today, only about…
Blog
Biden admin: Taxpayers don’t need to know about ‘official time’
The Biden administration is actively rolling back transparency requirements for unions, most recently by no longer posting information on the controversial practice of…
Duluth News Tribune
Point/Counterpoint: Technology once again is altering how, where we work
Technology is making the 40-hour workweek an outmoded tradition. Historically, the workweek concept was based on the cycle of working from sunup to sundown, stopping…
Blog
Ringside seats at today’s Senate cage match
A lot of preparation goes into testifying before a Senate committee. To borrow from the late Donald Rumsfeld, there are the “known” things that…
Letters
CEI Joins Letter on Joint Employer CRA
Dear Member of Congress, Small business needs protection. As you are aware, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued their final rule “Standard for Determining…
Testimony
Testimony before the Senate HELP Committee, November 14, 2023
Chairman Sanders, Dr. Cassidy, ladies and gentlemen of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Sean Higgins and I…
Citation
As more workers take to picket lines, the labor movement is having a moment
Higher wages are also driving up inflation, said Sean Higgins, a labor policy expert at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market think tank. “I don’t…
The Hill
New Biden ‘Joint Employer’ regulation is a boon for unions
What if you could get in legal trouble simply because you knew somebody else who got in trouble? You didn’t do anything wrong with them.
DC Journal
Point: 40-Hour Workweek Is Under Scrutiny
Technology is making the 40-hour workweek an outmoded tradition. Historically, the workweek concept was based on the cycle of working from sunup to sundown, stopping…
Comment
Comment on notice of proposed rulemaking: Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees
Dear Ms. DeBisschop: I am an attorney with the Competitive Enterprise Institute. I was a senior policy advisor in Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour…
Blog
NLRB responds to CEI on government ‘encouraging’ unionization
The National Labor Relations Board recently issued a rulemaking that included a direct rebuttal to an argument made by the Competitive Enterprise Institute regarding…
Comment
Comment on WHD NPRM on executive, administrative, and professional exemption
Amy DeBisschop Division of Regulations, Legislation, and Interpretation Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor 200 Constitution Ave. NW, Room S–3502, Washington, D.C. 20210…
News Release
Economy added 150,000 jobs in October, fewer than average months: CEI analysis
The U.S. economy added 150,000 jobs in the month of October, fewer than in average months, according to government data released today. That suggests…
Blog
UAW strike epilogue: Big Three will continue to shrink
The United Auto Workers has won, according to the headlines. What the union has won will force three companies, Ford, GM, and Stellantis, owner…
Blog
NLRB expands ‘joint employer’ rule to include kitchen sink
The National Labor Relations Board has issued its new rule for “joint employer status.” As expected, it extends the rule for when one company…
Blog
Ford-UAW deal: Declare victory and go home
The current United Auto Workers strike against the Big Three automakers has been more of a public relations spectacle than an actual strike. At no…
Washington Times
Supreme Court ruled public sector workers cannot be forced to pay dues; unions take them anyway
In the five years since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Janus v. AFSCME that public sector workers cannot be forced to pay union dues, many…
DC Journal
Counterpoint: Davis-Bacon Requires Pork Spending, Costs Taxpayers Billions
Forcing federally funded public works projects to pay the so-called prevailing wage is a classic case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. The intention behind…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Going into labor with Sean Higgins
In this week’s episode we talk about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s legal fate, rising economic might in India, terrible federal…
Blog
As Predicted, UAW Strike Remains Limited, Spares Automakers From Full Walkout
It only took about three weeks, but mainstream journalists are becoming aware of something the Competitive Enterprise Institute has been pointing out from the start:…
News Release
Economy adds 336k jobs in September, with implications for unions, job-seekers, and Fed interest rate decisions: CEI analysis
The economy added 336,000 jobs in the month of September, according to just-released government numbers. CEI experts expect this means opportunities for labor unions,…
Blog
The year of strikes ain’t over yet
2023 has had the most major labor strikes the country has seen in decades, with likely more to come. Unions leaders are itching to do…
Blog
UAW’s Fain says new strike strategy has produced no ‘meaningful progress’
UAW President Shawn Fain announced Friday that the union would expand its strike against Ford and GM. Fain said an additional 7,000 members…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: unemployment that works with Matt Darling
In this week’s episode we talk about banning plastic gift cards in California, the solution to Germany’s energy crisis, the political…
Washington Examiner
UAW strike: What the media won’t tell you about the strike
One of the things that liberal groups, unions included, have been good at is creating a narrative and selling that to the …
Blog
UAW strike mostly a PR move
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain is making much of the fact that the union is currently engaged in its first-ever strike against three…
Blog
Will COVID-era work-from-home flexibility disappear?
The question of how many Americans are going to continue working remotely, post-COVID, is back in the news again (if, indeed, it ever left).
Blog
United Auto Workers want a bigger slice of a shrinking pie
If the United Auto Workers go on strike this week – and as I write this it appears as though they will – it…
DC Journal
Point: This Labor Day, Don’t Let Pols Take Credit for Economy
Workers have much to celebrate this Labor Day. Unemployment is near its lowest level since the 1960s, and real wages are growing again. Post-pandemic inflation…
Fox News
This Labor Day, let’s get real about how things have gotten better for workers in the USA
The nature of employment has changed in the last decade more than many people might realize. More of us work from home. More of us…
The Hill
My job, my choice: The National Labor Relations Act does not require unionization
It’s been just shy of a century since the National Labor Relations Act was signed into law, guaranteeing workers nationwide the right to bargain collectively.
Blog
An invitation for union organizers to cheat in elections
The National Labor Relations Board has issued a new rule for union organizing elections that says the election will go ahead even when there…
News Release
187,000 jobs added in August 2023, with more people trying to get back to work: CEI analysis
The U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs in August 2023, and the unemployment rate rose to 3.8 percent, according to data released Friday by the…
Blog
Biden administration working overtime to regulate working overtime
The Biden administration issued a new rule this week that vastly expands of the number of workers covered by federal overtime rules. While some…
The Washington Examiner
10% tariff, 100% bad idea
Former President Donald Trump recently pledged to enact a universal 10% tariff on all imports if he regains the presidency. His…
National Review
How to Help Discouraged Working-Age Men
More blue-collar American men aged 25–54 than ever are no longer employed and seeking work. That sad trend started in the late 1960s, coinciding…
American Banker
Reach out to employees before unionizing becomes an issue
With labor making a bid to unionize the financial services sector, management should proceed with the utmost delicacy. The National Labor Relations Act is almost…
