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
Citation
CPAC Panelist Booed for Speaking Truth on Immigration
Citation
CPAC, Immigration, and Racism Accusations
Citation
Co-Author of Arizona Immigration Law Says Self-Deportation Working
Blog
CEI Podcast for February 9, 2012: The Immigration Tariff
Alex Nowrasteh proposes scrapping the complex and unfair immigration system and replacing it with a tariff. This is a much more humane approach to immigration,…
Op-Eds
Immigration Tariff: Improve System, Shrink Budget Gap
Of the public policy problems most Americans worry about, there are two that seem intractable. The first is the federal budget deficit. The second is…
Citation
U.S. Sen. Johnson Says Obama “Not Someone We Can Compromise With”
Citation
CPAC Speaker Goads Pro-Union, Occupy Protestors
Citation
At CPAC, Undermining the Power of American Workers
Citation
Afternoon News Brief
Blog
Even Liberal Reporters Sour on Stimulus-Funded California Rail Boondoggle
Even reporters at the famously-liberal Los Angeles Times have soured on California’s $100 billion-plus rail boondoggle, whose cost will far outstrip whatever the state will…
Washington Examiner
SEIU Makes Play for ‘Dues’ From Conn. Subsidy
From The Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential (also appeared on the National Right to Work Committee website and The Oklahoman): The Service Employees International…
Washington Examiner
Vincent Vernuccio explains the union’s latest method of recruitment.
Vincent Vernuccio explains the union's the latest method of forcing home healthcare and daycare workers into their unions…
Study
The Conservative Case for Immigration Tariffs
The current immigration system is a complex bureaucracy that sets quotas, fees, and arbitrary restrictions that prevent most immigrants from attempting legal immigration. Replacing that…
Washington Examiner
Rome vs. the Unions
Relative to Italy’s debt problems, the country’s biggest impediment to growth gets relatively little international press. Burdensome labor regulations are nothing new to Italians. But…
Washington Examiner
Employment Law Roundup: Retaliation Charges Pose Growing Threat to Free Speech
Washington Examiner
Keystone and the Unions
President Barack Obama placated one wing of his liberal base, environmentalists, with his decision to kill the Keystone Pipeline, but he’s angered another — labor…
News Release
Immigration Tariffs Are Cost-Effective Solution to Illegal Immigration Problem
Washington, D.C., February 7, 2012 – In a new CEI OnPoint, Immigration Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh proposes an innovative solution to our nation’s…
Blog
Yes, Pensions Did Help Push American Airlines into Bankruptcy
I generally hold John Tamny’s analysis of economic matters in high regard, so I was surprised to find his take on the American Airlines bankruptcy…
News Release
Free Market Policy Organizations Push Back Against Stealth Unionization Campaign
Washington, DC, February 6, 2012 – The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is trying to unionize home health care workers in Connecticut by stealth—and Governor Dannel…
Washington Examiner
Alinksy Disciple Obama Does the Master Proud
Polls show that, even as his job approval ratings have struggled against continued grim economic news, majorities nonetheless find President Obama personally likable.
Washington Examiner
Could Indiana’s Right to Work Law Mean Trouble for Neighboring States?
Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois soon may need to construct a wall—not to keep people out but to keep business in. While such a drastic move…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 208: Re-Booking Flights
A new Department of Transportation regulation limiting re-booking fees caused one airline to add a $2 "Department of Transportation Unintended Consequences Fee" on every ticket…
Blog
Oklahoma Moves to Keep Big Labor in Check
Openmarket.org Oklahoma taxpayers might be able to breathe a little bit easier this year thanks to two important pieces of legislation making their way through…
Blog
12 More Law Schools Sued for Defrauding Their Students; Many More Class-Action Lawsuits Expected
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that a team of eight law firms have just “sued a dozen more law schools across the country,…
Blog
Oklahoma Moves to Keep Big Labor in Check
Oklahoma taxpayers might be able to breathe a little bit easier this year thanks to two important pieces of legislation making their way through the…
Washington Examiner
NY’s Still Too Business-Unfriendly
News Release
Competitive Enterprise Institute Applauds Indiana Enactment of Right to Work
Washington, DC, February 1, 2012 – Indiana today enacted a crucial, hard-fought right-to-work law prohibiting labor contracts that force workers to pay for union representation.
Blog
Michigan SEIU Scam the Product of Government Collective Bargaining
Openmarket.org Proponents of government collective bargaining view it as a fundamental human right. The shameful actions of SEIU in Michigan, however, undermine this claim.
Blog
Michigan SEIU Scam the Product of Government Collective Bargaining
Proponents of government collective bargaining view it as a fundamental human right. The shameful actions of SEIU in Michigan, however, undermine this claim. In…
Blog
More Bailouts for Speculators and Delinquent Mortgage Borrowers from Obama Administration; More Taxpayer Money for Certain Banks
In his State of the Union address, President Obama, a consistent supporter of bailouts and crony capitalism, hypocritically railed against them, proclaiming, “no…
Blog
Buffett’s Secretary, Romney’s Return, and the Crushing Double Taxation on Investment Income
There has been much waxing in the last few days about how unfair it supposedly is that Mitt Romney was taxed at around 15 percent.
Blog
Enr1 Goes Belly Up; Yet Another Solyndra
"After spending $55 million of a $118.5 million grant from" the U.S. "Department of Energy, Ener1, an Indianapolis-based maker of batteries," has just "declared…
Huffington Post
Could Our Immigration Laws Prevent the Next Google?
While President Obama’s State of the Union address did not focus on immigration, his few statements on that issue sent out…
Huffington Post
It’s Politics: Linda Sanchez Wins Key Step Toward Democratic Party Endorsement
Blog
The Silver Platypus
Openmarket.org Last week, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority announced it was considering scrapping the Silver Line stop at Dulles Airport. Though the Silver line was…
Blog
The Silver Platypus
Last week, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority announced it was considering scrapping the Silver Line stop at Dulles Airport. Though the Silver line was designed…
Blog
Obama’s False Claims about Outsourcing and Corporate Taxes in the State of the Union Address
President Obama has spent billions of dollars in taxpayer money on subsidizing foreign firms through his failed "green energy" programs, so it was…
Huffington Post
Employers Skeptical of Obama’s SOTU Promises
Blog
Obama’s State of the Union Address: More Failed Jobs Proposals?
My take on President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union address is at this link. It discusses one of the jobs…
Blog
Stimulus was Designed to Provide Pork and Payoffs, Not to Revive the Economy
Harvard University economist Jeffrey Miron argued that the $800 billion stimulus package wasn't even designed to stimulate the economy, but rather to benefit…
Blog
Law Schools Teach Junk, Exaggerate Their Students’ Job Prospects
Propped up by government subsidies and regulations requiring students to attend law school before taking the bar exam, law schools waste their students' time teaching…
Blog
Celebrate National School Choice Week
Openmarket.org This week, a collaboration of over 200 organizations will hold the second annual National School Choice Week. National School Choice Week highlights the need…
Blog
Dodd-Frank Claims 4,300 More Jobs, Reduces Consumer Choice in Mortgage Market
The Dodd-Frank law passed in 2010 in the name of “financial reform” has wiped out another 4,300 jobs: MetLife is closing down its growing…
Blog
Court Ruling Broadening Americans with Disabilities Act Will Harm Taxicab Safety and Cost Hundreds of Millions
A federal judge last month barred New York City's “Taxi and Limousine Commission from issuing permits for taxicabs unless they're accessible to people who…
Huffington Post
Immigrants Help Fuel Tech Growth
People are the most valuable resource. We see this most clearly among entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, and innovators. Creating wealth and new ways of doing things…
Blog
Media: If You Wear Headphones while Walking, You’re as Good as Dead
Various media outlets are trying to scare the bejesus out of us by reporting on a new study published in this month's issue of Injury Prevention,…
Blog
Judge Criticizes American Law Schools
A prominent federal judge has added to the growing chorus of criticism for American law schools and their failure to provide practical training for…
Blog
Wisconsin union holding federal funds hostage
The Washington Examiner Federal health care funds are being held hostage by the Wisconsin Education Association Trust, a not-for-profit health insurance company created by…
Huffington Post
Wisconsin Union Holding Federal Funds Hostage
Federal health care funds are being held hostage by the Wisconsin Education Association Trust, a not-for-profit health insurance company created by the state’s largest…
Blog
Eleven More Solyndras in Obama Clean-Energy Program
There are 11 more Solyndras in the Obama administration’s clean-energy program, reports CBS News. These companies are in financial trouble — five have already…
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