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
Trump picks gig economy fan for DOL’s number 2 spot
President-elect Donald Trump has raised more than a few eyebrows in the world of labor policy when he nominated the frankly…
News Release
Economy adds 256,000 jobs in December, uncertainty remains with upcoming tariff policies: CEI analysis
The job numbers released today from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show 256,000 jobs were added to the economy in the last month of…
News Release
Biden blocks Nippon Steel purchase of U.S. Steel in baseless protectionist maneuver
With just days left in office, President Biden decided to block Nippon Steel from purchasing U.S. Steel, alleging it might “impair the national security of…
Search Posts
Blog
NLRB General Counsel Targets Mandatory Attendance Meetings
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo is taking aim at “captive audience meetings” held by employers, arguing that it is unfair…
Crowdfund Insider
JOBS Act of 2012: Ten Years of Legalized Investment Crowdfunding
Crowdfund Insider cites Director of Finance Policy John Berlau on outcome of the JOBS Act 10 years later: CI also spoke with John…
Blog
Amazon Union Wins in Staten Island with Backing of 32 Percent of Workers
Key to understanding the union organizing win at Amazon’s Staten Island facility is that there were enough workers who wanted a union, or at…
News Release
New Job Gains for March 2022 Shows Businesses Open with Jobs to Offer: CEI Analysis
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics announced today that the U.S. economy added over 400,000 jobs in the month of March – good news…
Blog
Weil, That Was a Close One!
David Weil, the Biden administration’s pick to be the administrator of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division, was rejected by…
Inside Sources
Point: Pay College Athletes
St. Peter’s University’s run of upsets wasn’t the only storyline from this year’s March Madness tournament. The other is that the Memphis Tigers men’s basketball…
Blog
The Best Thing the Department of Labor Can Do for Freelancers is Keep the Trump-era Rule
In a surprising move, a federal court has thrown out the Biden administration’s attempt to throw out the Trump administration’s new rule to determine…
Blog
Biden Administration Seeks to Redefine Word “Prevailing”
The Biden administration has come up with an innovative way to aid its union allies: redefining the word “prevailing” to mean its opposite. The…
National Review
Supply Shocks Are Not Inflation
Gas prices are spiking due to Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. President Biden announced a ban on importing Russian oil, which accounts…
Blog
Inflation Numbers Show a Minimum Wage Hike Is Still A Bad Idea
Like a slasher movie villain who refuses to die, the push to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour seems to have a…
Blog
How Newt Gingrich Laid the Groundwork for Congressional Staff Unionizing
The current effort by congressional staff to unionize builds on a legal groundwork laid decades ago by Republicans. In fact, the idea was…
Blog
The New Office Normal
What is the best workplace model for employers to follow as COVID-19 (hopefully) continues to wind down? In an Inside Sources op-ed currently being…
The Frederick News Post
No Single Best Way to Work
COVID-19 might be winding down into an endemic disease like the cold and the flu — maybe. But even if the virus has more curveballs…
News Release
U.S. Economy Adds 678,000 Jobs in February, but Inflation, Russia, Government Mandates Remain a Problem
The U.S. economy added 678,000 jobs in February, according to newly released government figures. CEI economic and labor policy experts praised the good news…
Citation
AUDIO: Sean Higgins Joins the Bob Harden Show
Research Fellow Sean Higgins joins the Bob Harden Show to discuss unions.
Blog
What Do Workers Want?
Pundits and politicians are talking about how to get back to normal as COVID (hopefully) winds down into an endemic disease like the cold or…
The Hill
You’re the Boss: Unionized Staff Would Force Democrats to Take on Management’s Role
A group of congressional Democratic staffers are attempting to form a union. It might not be a bad idea. A major problem with Congress is…
Blog
The One Area Where Voting Rights Isn’t Sacred: Union Elections.
There is one area of voting rights where many Democrats don’t seem to want every voice to be heard: union elections. Democratic lawmakers have accepted…
Blog
Unions Likely Received $36 Million in Improper PPP Loans
It is possible that labor unions improperly received more than $36 million in “loans” under the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The program was intended…
News Release
U.S. Economy Added 467,000 Jobs in January 2022, Signaling No Need for Govt Meddling
The good news jobs gain in January gives President Biden and Congress ample reason to step back and let businesses and workers chart a…
The Washington Times
American Consumers See Drop in Restaurant, Retail Quality from Labor Shortage, Study Finds
The Washington Times cites Research Fellow Sean Higgins on costs of pandemic to restaurant business: Sean Higgins, a research fellow specializing in…
The Boston Globe
Workers Organizing at McLean Hospital Face Staunch Resistance
The Boston Globe cites Research Fellow Sean Higgins on union membership: Given that only 6 percent of the private-sector workforce is organized,…
Real Clear Policy
This Biden Nominee Could Restrict Worker Freedom
Real Clear Policy cites Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on Biden nominee David Weil: The AI broadened the scope of wage…
Blog
Even Most Democrats Favor Right to Work Laws
For being so controversial, right to work laws are pretty popular. A majority of states, 27, have them and even Democrats will give…
Blog
Rising Pay Undermines Push for Increasing the Minimum Wage
A Department Labor report released Friday shows wages rising 4.5 percent, evidence that the Biden administration’s plan to raise the federal minimum wage…
Blog
Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Is Still a Bad Idea Even If Properly Enacted
The best that can be said about the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw the executive order for its COVID-19 vaccine mandate and instead try to…
The Tribune-Democrat
There are Better Ways than Raising the Federal Minimum Wage to Boost Workers’ Pay
Twenty-five states raised their minimum wages this year, but the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 per hour since 2009. Is it time…
Blog
Better Ways to Fight Poverty than the Minimum Wage
Every January, states and cities across the country raise their minimum wages. There are also calls to raise the federal minimum wage, which has stayed…
Blog
As Numbers Stagnate, Unions Continue to Look to Congress For Salvation
The Department of Labor’s latest statistics confirm that the union movement in the U.S. remains stagnant and slowly declining. Only 10.3 percent of U.S.
City Journal
The Pandemic Job Shuffle
Policymaking involves tradeoffs. As the Covid-19 pandemic started in the U.S. in early 2020, governments chose to impose lockdowns and other restrictions in an effort…
Blog
Comments on Department of Labor Pension ESG Rule
At the end of last year, the Department of Labor (DOL) published a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking to rewrite rules on pension fund…
News Release
December’s Disappointing Job Numbers Show Government Should Loosen Restrictions on Economy
On Friday, the Biden Administration released the jobs report for December 2021, showing the U.S. economy added 199,000 jobs. The number was far short of…
World News Group
Pandemic Pileup
World News Group cites Senior Fellow Ben Lieberman on the current supply chain crisis: Ben Lieberman is a senior fellow at the…
News Release
Consumer Spending Growth Slows: COVID, Inflation, Supply Networks Are Factors: CEI Statement
On news today that inflation rose again in November, CEI Senior Fellow Ryan Young urged policymakers to do their part by spending less: “Consumer spending grew…
Blog
Can Pensions Be Saved from Political Mismanagement?
The Department of Labor is currently working on a new rule that would give pension fund managers greater leeway in considering non-financial criteria when…
News Release
Disappointing Job Gains for November 2021 Speak to Government Barriers to Economic Recovery
The U.S. economy added 210,000 jobs in November, far short of what economists expected. CEI experts say government mandates and restrictions remain a big part…
Blog
The Bizarre Logic of the NLRB’s Decision in the Amazon Union Case
The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) order overturning the workers’ rejection of a union at an Amazon facility in Bessemer, Alabama, and ordering…
News Release
Thankful for Good Economic News on Jobs, Consumer Spending: More to Do
During Thanksgiving week, jobless claims dipped to 199,000, their lowest level in 52 years, when the country’s population was less than two thirds of…
Blog
The Invisible Hand, Not Washington, Is Easing the Supply Chain Crisis
The supply chain crisis is showing signs of receding. This is happening not because of any action by the White House or Congress. The market…
The Washington Times
Economic Pressures Boost Thanksgiving Turkey Prices by 20%
The Washington Times cites Vice President for Strategy Iain Murray on Thanksgiving prices: Iain Murray, a senior analyst at the libertarian Competitive…
Blog
Build Back Better’s $1.5 billion Gift to Unions
Hidden in the Biden administration’s Build Back Better plan is a provision that amounts to a $1.5 billion gift to unions. It is intended to…
Blog
We Wanna Negotiate This – Unions Cool to Biden Vaccine Mandate
The nation’s top unions have reacted coolly to the Biden administration’s proposed vaccine mandate, with many rejecting the administration’s unilateral approach and saying that workers…
News Release
US Economy Added 531,000 Jobs in October, but Biden Vaccine Mandate, Govt Spending Pose Real Threat
The American economy added 531,000 jobs in October, according to the U.S. Labor Department. CEI experts pointed to Covid declines but also warned that…
Inside Sources
Minimum Wages Don’t Create Jobs
There are more than 10 million job openings in America right now. The worker shortage is contributing to goods shortages, rising prices and supply network…
Blog
How to Fill 10 Million Vacant Jobs
Would raising the minimum wage help to fill the more than 10 million job vacancies currently open? It makes some intuitive sense—higher pay will attract…
News Release
OSHA Vaccine Mandate — Trouble for Employers, Rough Time in Courts
The Biden administration today published its much-anticipated vaccine mandate for businesses that employ 100 or more people. This “emergency temporary standard” by the Occupational…
Blog
A Note on Politicized Investment Policy
Two weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a change in its pension rules. DOL announced that it intends to incorporate political…
The Washington Examiner
Longshoreman Union Boss Sits on Long Beach Harbor Commission Making Policy
The Washington Examiner cites Research Fellow Sean Higgins on the current supply chain crisis: Sean Higgins, a supply chain expert with the…
National Review
The Real Culprit in Our Supply-Chain Crisis
The supply chain for an Apple iPhone crosses an international border more than 600 times, and if it didn’t, you probably wouldn’t have one —…
Blog
There Is Less to Biden’s Ports Deal than It Appears
President Biden on Wednesday announced that the two main ports on the West Coast will start operating 24 hours a day to help address…
