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
News Release
Economy added 115,000 jobs in April, modest boost amidst economic uncertainty: CEI analysis
The jobs report for April shows 115,000 jobs were added to the economy, a modest boost compared to previous months. While unemployment remains unchanged…
Blog
The party is over for Lori Chavez-DeRemer
Of all the Trump administration cabinet officials who have exited early and unceremoniously, Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer can arguably be…
News Release
Labor Department’s reworked joint employer rule restores common sense
The Labor Department came out with a draft rework of its joint employer rule. CEI labor policy expert Sean Higgins points to some good…
Search Posts
Reason
Department of Labor Proposes New Rule Protecting the Right To Be a Gig Worker
Reason cites research fellow Sean Higgins on California’s AB5 rule: The new rule “is definitely a reaction” to the California law, says Sean Higgins, a research…
Blog
Labor Department Trying to Rewrite Definition of “Employer”
In the credit where credit is due department, the Trump administration deserves a cheer for attempting to save an emerging part of the economy: gig…
Blog
School Closures to Offer a Lesson in Economics
The U.S. got some good news that the employment rate had fallen to 8.4 percent in July, but it is possible that that could jump back…
Blog
Brother, Can You Spare Two Weeks?
Last year, California passed AB5, which was intended to go after rideshare companies Uber and Lyft. The law requires “gig economy” companies to classify all…
Blog
Headline: School Closures to Offer a Lesson in Economics
The U.S. got some good news that the employment rate had fallen to 8.4 percent in July, but it is possible that that could jump back…
The Detroit News
Workplace Transformation Will Affect Everyone, Even Labor Unions
The Labor Day holiday dates to the early 20th century, and envisioned as a public celebration of “the strength and esprit…
Blog
School’s Out Forever? Teachers Unions Flex Muscle on Reopening Policies
What determines whether your child school is open this fall? Apparently, the strength of the teachers local union. That was what analysts found using data…
Blog
California’s AB5 Holding Back Recovery Nationally
There was some modest good news in the Labor Department’s report today on unemployment benefits, the falling numbers indicating that people are finding work despite…
Blog
Should Parents Have to Choose between Keeping Federal Benefits or Keeping their Kids Safe from COVID-19?
Should parents have to choose between keeping federal benefits to cope with COVID-19 or keeping their children at home if the local school isn’t doing…
Blog
This Labor Day, Let’s Celebrate Individual Worker Rights
Labor Day 2020 is definitely an ironic moment: The federal government is having a holiday to celebrate working Americans at a time when record numbers…
Blog
App-less in Sacramento? Uber and Lyft Allowed to Postpone California Departure
On August 20, an appeals court in California allowed Uber and Lyft to halt their plans to flee the Golden State rather than comply with…
National Review
App Shrugged: Will Uber Go Galt in California?
The rideshare company Uber is threatening to end its operations in California entirely if the Golden State forces the company to classify all its drivers as…
Blog
Can You Have Worker Representatives without Unions? Uber Hopes So
Rideshare company Uber is trying to find a way to allow its drivers to collectively express any grievances or concerns they have without having those…
Blog
Trump Adopts one of Barack Obama’s Better Ideas: The Payroll Tax Cut
Trump’s decision to Institute a payroll tax holiday via an executive order over the weekend is a good idea even if its effectiveness as an…
Blog
Cautious Optimism on July Jobs Numbers: Prudence, Resilience Will Aid Recovery
In July, 1.8 million new jobs were created, and the unemployment rate dropped to 10.2 percent. That is a welcome follow-up to the second quarter’s…
News Release
July Jobs Numbers Show Economic Impact of Coronavirus Policy Reversals
CEI labor policy expert Sean Higgins breaks down what the jobs numbers from July are telling decision makers:…
Blog
Californians: Educate Your Children at Your Own Risk
Activist Carl DeMaio caused a stir this week by holding a press conference in which he declared that hiring tutors could be could result in…
The Wall Street Journal
Moonlighting Could Lift a Threat to Uber
Letting drivers work for competitors demonstrates that they’re contractors and not employees. If you use Uber regularly, you’ve probably climbed into a car that displays…
Comment
Comment on Employee Benefits Security Administration Proposed Rule “Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments”
The Department of Labor’s move to safeguard the retirement future of beneficiaries of pension funds governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974…
Blog
Cheers to Department of Labor for Protecting Retiree Investments
At the end of last month the Department of Labor published a new notice of proposed rulemaking on the investment choices that private pension fund…
Blog
If You Can’t Convince Them, Confuse Them: California Political Establishment Doubles Down on AB5
Progressives are fond of saying that authority never gives up power easily. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is demonstrating that by rewriting the ballot language…
Blog
Reversing Opening Comes at a Price
This is one of those things that is kind of obvious but needs to be pointed out anyway: Reversing opening your state’s economy due to…
Blog
Electronic Union Elections: A Permanent “Temporary” Solution?
Some lawmakers and their union allies want to use the COVID-19 crisis to institute a radical change to union elections allow them to be held…
Blog
Chamber of Commerce to Congress: You’re Killing the Economy with Kindness
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce begged Congress on Thursday to scale back the $600 weekly unemployment benefit bonus it has been giving to U.S. workers.
Blog
A Massbackwards Approach to Helping Rideshare Drivers
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy on Tuesday jumped on the bandwagon that California Governor Gavin Newsom started by suing rideshare companies Uber and Lyft in…
Blog
Unions Say They Shouldn’t Be Burdened with Complex Process They Created
A favorite tactic used by unions to prevent membership losses, and the accompanying loss of dues money, is making the process of opting out of…
Blog
Congress’ Long Bipartisan History of Defending Cops Accused of Wrongdoing
For more than a decade, one of the areas of broad bipartisan agreement in Congress was on protecting police officers “unfairly targeted” for their “aggressive…
Blog
Unemployment Drops to 11 Percent, Showing the Economy Can Recover If We Let It
The Labor Department’s announcement Thursday that the unemployment rate fell to 11.1 percent after the economy added 4.8 million jobs in July proves the previous…
Blog
For Small Businesses, Hiking Minimum Wages Now Is Like Throwing an Anchor to a Drowning Man
Three states and three major cities hiked up their minimum wages Wednesday, resisting calls by the business community to hold off until the COVID-19 crisis…
Blog
You’ve Been Volunteered—San Francisco’s Lawsuit against DoorDash
San Francisco has sued DoorDash for allegedly misclassifying its employees as contractors, but concedes in its own lawsuit that the “gig economy” company’s drivers work…
OC Register
Few Protections for Workers Whose Unions Rip Them Off
Maria Quezambra was ripped off for six years by the United Domestic Workers of America (UDWA) after someone at the union forged her signature on…
The Orange County Register
Few protections for workers whose unions rip them off
Maria Quezambra was ripped off for six years by the United Domestic Workers of America (UDWA) after someone at the union forged her signature on…
Blog
What Would Scalia Do? Conservative Justices Debate Each Other on Workplace Discrimination
The Supreme Court's conservative justices split three ways in yesterday’s decision to extend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to cover discrimination by sexual orientation. The…
Blog
We Don’t Need No Stinking Badges; Left Pushes Labor Leaders to Dump Police Unions
The progressive left’s calls to “defund the police” have extended to attacking the right of law enforcement officers to have unions. This has put organized…
Blog
Administration Rewrites Congress’ Paycheck Protection Program Loan Requirements
The Trump administration is rewriting the rules on the Paycheck Protection Program, saying that the stipulation that the program’s business loans must be used to…
Blog
White House Reaction to Job Numbers: Reopen Economy but Keep Tax Dollars Ready
The White House’s thinking appears to be that the economy is recovering just by letting people get back to work. Therefore, we should wait and…
News Release
Great News on Job Recovery
Upending expert predictions, the U.S economy added 2.5 million jobs in May and the unemployment dropped to 13.3 percent, according to the Labor Department. This,…
Blog
Unexpectedly Positive Jobs Report Is a Testament to American Ingenuity
The unexpectedly good news of Friday’s jobs report that 2.5 million jobs were added in the last month is a rather inspiring testament to American…
Blog
How Many Unions Are Still Charging Dues to Unemployed Workers?
How many unions are still charging dues to their unemployed members during the COVID-19 outbreak? While unions have been aggressively presenting themselves as the workers’…
Blog
DOL IG says “at least” $26 billion of CARES Act funds being wasted, most to fraud
At least $26 billion taxpayer dollars are going to be wasted through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) ACT, with “a large portion…
Blog
California Lawmakers Mull Tax on Jobs
California’s lawmakers are nothing if not innovative. They keep coming up with new ways to help the state’s unemployment rate, currently 15.5 percent, nearly a…
Blog
House Democrats Drop Deregulatory Push over Union Opposition
The House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday to modestly reform $670 billion Paycheck Protection Program, scrapping the much broader reform of the PPP program the…
Blog
Proposed Reform to Paycheck Protection Program Faces Republican Opposition
The Trump administration and the Republican-led Senate are opposing a pro-business effort by the House Democrats to amend the Paycheck Protection Program. The House Democrats…
Blog
AB5 Defender: Law Is “Like Taking Way the Lollipop”
It is not often that a defender of a state regulation will concede that they are, figuratively speaking, taking candy from a child, but California…
Blog
Homeschooling Growth Worries Teachers’ Unions
Teachers unions are eager to see the COVID-19 outbreak end and things return normal because the outbreak has turned the U.S. into a nation of…
Blog
AB5 Is Making Unemployment in California Go from Bad to Worse
The most recent numbers for the people on unemployment insurance are out and they are about as grim as anyone could expect, with the California…
National Review
Congress’s Paycheck Protection Program Doing More to Hurt than Help
The government’s pandemic-prompted, $660 billion Paycheck Protection Program pays businesses to not lay their workers off. Unfortunately, the program’s specific requirement that 75 percent of…
Blog
Does Uncle Sam Support Single Moms? The Question of Federal Funds for Strip Clubs
Should U.S. taxpayer dollars be loaned to strip clubs? What would have sounded like a joke just a few months ago is now a reality…
News Release
April Pandemic-Caused Unemployment Rate Underscores Urgency of Getting Rid of #Neverneeded Regulations
CEI senior fellow Ryan Young indicated that April’s 14.7 percent unemployment rate was unsurprising and will probably continue in May. He called on policymakers to…
Blog
California to Sue Rideshare Firms over Employee Classification
The state of California announced Tuesday that it planned to sue rideshare companies Uber and Lyft for refusing to classify their drivers as employees rather…
Blog
Delivery Price Caps Threaten New Restaurant Lifeline
Tomorrow, the Washington, D.C. City Council votes on a bill that seeks to impose a price cap on the commission a third-party delivery platform can…
Blog
West Virginia AFL-CIO Reacts to State Supreme Court Ruling Upholding Right to Work
Supporting the rights of individual workers has cost a pro-union West Virginia Supreme Court justice the backing of the state’s AFL-CIO. That’s because the judge…
The Orange County Register
Assembly Bill 5’s Harms Can’t Be Exempted Away, It Must Be Repealed
The top two priorities for the coronavirus pandemic are keeping people safe and minimizing economic damage, in that order. California’s Assembly Bill 5 is harmful…
Blog
West Virginia Supreme Court Upholds Right to Work
The Supreme Court of Appeals for West Virginia ruled that if a worker says, “No, thank you, I’d rather not be a union member,” he…
Blog
Newsom Doubles Down on AB5
California Governor Gavin Newsom said there was no chance that he would suspend, even temporarily, Assembly Bill 5, the state law that strictly limits contractors…
Blog
California’s #NeverNeeded AB5 Is Harming the Coronavirus Response
California’s AB5 law was already backfiring before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. It has cost thousands of jobs—many of which are home-based. During a time of…
Blog
How to Spot a #NeverNeeded Regulation
Not every regulation on the books is directly harming the COVID-19 response. There are a lot of other regulations that need reform, but the #NeverNeeded…
Blog
Robots Are Here to Make Your Job Safer and Cleaner
Positive stories about win-win results from the march of automation are everywhere in our economy, but they don’t get told and repeated enough. The workers…
Inside Sources
Post-Virus Economics — Working Toward a Small Business Recovery
When the stay-at-home orders are lifted, we’ll be in a race to get millions of Americans back to work. Large companies will be in a…
News Release
701k Jobs Lost in March 2020: Statement by Iain Murray
In response to today's abysmal jobs report tallied by the federal government – 701,000 jobs lost in March as a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Blog
Joint Employer Rule Gives Much-Needed Certainty to Franchises
The National Labor Relations Board finalized a rule last week that will bring much needed relief and certainty to the franchise industry and other industries…
Blog
The Minimum Wage Tax Increase
By far the most common criticism of minimum wages is that they cost jobs.
Comment
CEI Comments on Intermediate Bodies Rule
Dear Director Rosenfield, On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, I respectfully submit the following comments. Founded in 1984, the Competitive Enterprise Institute is a…
Blog
The Spectrum Case against AB5
California’s Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) is intended to classify more independent contractors as formal employees. The goal is for workers to get higher wages and…
Washington Examiner
Diminished Expectations: Democratic Labor Bill Waters Down ‘Card Check’
Washington Examiner cites senior fellow Ryan Young on the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act): That’s close enough to card check,…
Blog
House to Vote on PRO Act This Week
The House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. The legislation would essentially nullifies 28…
Blog
Minimum Wages Rise Across the Country
Twenty four states rang in 2020 with minimum wage increases. Most of the increases are modest, so the tradeoffs will be, too. But there was…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposing PRO Act
Dear Member of Congress, We are writing in opposition to the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. Senator Patty Murray and Congressman Bobby Scott…
The Hill
Why are Labor Union Reforms Only Necessary for Mexican Workers?
The primary purpose of free trade agreements is to break down barriers to the free flow of goods across borders so consumers have access to…
Blog
Year in Review 2019: Labor and Employment
The Competitive Enterprise Institute had a busy year in the labor and employment space. Much of the work focused on expanding worker freedom, ending wasteful…
The Wall Street Journal
Another California Job Buster
The Wall Street Journal cites CEI’s study on A.B. 5 by Research Fellow Ryan Radia: Bloggers will be able to apply for full-time…
The Heartland Institute
Report: Project Labor Agreements Have Cost New Jersey Taxpayers Half a Billion Dollars Since 2002
The Heartland Institute cites Policy Analyst Trey Kovacs on PLAs: PLAs put unionized workers in a privileged position, says Trey Kovacs, a policy…
News Release
Report: California A.B. 5 Labor Law Will Mean Huge Costs for Rideshare Companies, Drivers, Consumers
A Competitive Enterprise Institute report crunches numbers on California’s new law imposing massive costs and impediments for rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft, along with…
Study
California Ride Share Contracting Legislation Is a Solution in Search of a Problem
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 5 (A.B. 5) into law on September 18, 2019.[1] The legislation, which generally takes effect…
Blog
National Labor Relations Board Attack on McDonald’s Finally Over
A major holdover case from the Obama-era National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which acted as the litigation arm of organized labor, is finally resolved. On…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposing H.R. 397, Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions Act
Dear Senators and Representatives: The undersigned organizations urge Congress to reject H.R. 397 the Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions (Butch-Lewis) Act of 2019. Ultimately, this legislation…
Blog
How Kentucky Taxpayers Foot the Bill for Union Business
As taxpayers, we trust our locally elected officials to act as fiduciaries of our hard-earned dollars. However, it is well documented that the government frequently…
News Release
Report Finds Kentucky Wastes Tax Money on Labor Union “Release Time”
New information unearthed by a Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) open records inquiry reveals how Kentucky wastes taxpayer money on a little-known practice called union “release…
Study
Union Time on the Taxpayer Dime
“Forcing free and independent individuals to endorse ideas they find objectionable is always demeaning,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion in Janus v…
The Heartland Institute
Project Labor Agreements Have Cost New Jersey Taxpayers Half a Billion Dollars Since 2002
The Heartland Institute cites policy analyst Trey Kovacs on Project Labor Agreements: PLAs put unionized workers in a privileged position, says Trey Kovacs, a…
Reason
Target Employees Won The ‘Fight For $15’ but Weren’t Ready for the Trade-Offs
Reason cites Senior Fellow Ryan Young on minimum wage: But the bottom line is that wage increases do not exist in a vacuum.
The Telegraph
Small Businesses Navigating Impending Minimum Wage Hikes
The Telegraph cites Senior Fellow Ryan Young on minimum wage hikes: A study this month by the pro-limited-government think tank the Competitive Enterprise…
Los Angeles Daily News
The Cost of Ending Independent Work
The California legislature managed to pass a near statutory prohibition on independent work in misguided bid to “protect workers.” Lawmakers achieved this outcome by redefining…
Fox Business
Chicago Teachers Strike—What Benefits the Union vs. What Benefits Teachers and Students
For the second time in less than a decade, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) decided to go on strike. Since Thursday, the Chicago Public School…
The Washington Times
Trump Executive Orders Curtail Union Business on the Taxpayer Dime
Imagine each working day, federal employees report for work but do not perform any governmental duties. Instead, they work for a private enterprise void of…
Blog
Labor Relations Chief Corrects Record on ‘Joint Employer’ Rule
Chairman John Ring delivered the latest salvo in response to the manufactured “scandal” at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Democrats, with help from the…
Blog
Priorities for Department of Labor’s New Secretary
On September 30th, Eugene Scalia was sworn in as the 28th Secretary of Labor. Last week, the Senate confirmed Scalia on a 53-44 vote. With…
Blog
New Study: Minimum Wages Have Tradeoffs
Congress nearly increased the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour this year. Though the Raise the Wage Act is unlikely to pass…
News Release
Minimum Wage Increases Canceled Out by Non-Wage Losses: CEI Report
Is raising the minimum wage good for workers? A new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute makes the case that there are serious tradeoffs lawmakers…
Study
Minimum Wages Have Tradeoffs
Raising the minimum wage is currently a top policy issue at the federal, state, and local levels. This paper opposes increases for three reasons, and…
News Release
Trump Labor Department Rule on Overtime Pay Scraps Toxic Obama-Era Ratchet
Today, the U.S. Labor Department released its long-awaited rule on overtime pay for salaried employees. Competitive Enterprise Institute labor policy analyst Trey Kovacs praised the…
Blog
California to Eliminate Independent Work
Late Tuesday evening, the California legislature passed controversial legislation that would codify a state Supreme Court decision, which adopted a flawed test that effectively prohibits…
Blog
How Accounting Reform Can Help Address Public Pension Underfunding
By deferring compensation, in the form of pensions, and pushing those costs well into the future, politicians can gain favor with government employee unions, which…
Blog
Union Wish List Bill Would Harm Workers and the Economy
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) released a report that analyzes the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act of 2019 (H.R. 2474), which the…
News Release
Labor Union ‘Grab Bag’ Bill Takes Away Worker Choice, Greases Wheels for Unions
Workers should have the right and freedom to decide for themselves whether to join a union. But a proposed bill, the “Protecting the Right to…
Study
The Case against the Protecting the Right to Organize Act
The Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019 (H.R. 2474) would radically overhaul United States labor relations law to facilitate labor union organizing without…
Blog
PRO Act Undermines Employee Choice
Democrats in Congress introduced the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act with the state goal of strengthening union power and increasing union membership, which…
Blog
Underfunded Public Pensions Put Future Taxpayers on the Hook
One of the most well-known and enduring lessons of public choice economics is the dynamic of concentrated benefits and diffuse costs. Well-organized groups have both…
Blog
Greater Financial Transparency Could Prevent Next Union Scandal
Earlier this year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation served indictments to several high level United Auto Workers (UAW) officials, some of who have already pleaded…
Comment
CEI Comments on DOL Labor Organization Annual Financial Reports for Trusts in Which a Labor Organization Is Interested
On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), I respectfully submit the following comments in response to the Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Labor-Management…
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