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
The Daily Signal
How Many Biden Appointees ‘Burrowed in’ to the Permanent Bureaucracy?
The Daily Signal cited CEI’s expert on political career placements Sean Higgins, a research fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, also highlighted the threat of…
News Release
April adds 177,000 jobs to economy, tariff policies yet to majorly shakeup labor market: CEI analysis
The job numbers for April show 177,000 jobs were added to the economy, with the unemployment rate staying steady at 4.2 percent. While job growth…
Blog
CEI suggests DOT put the brakes on train two-person crew rule
The Transportation Department recently asked the public for comments on how to reduce the regulatory burden. One thought that the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)…
Search Posts
Blog
The Effect of Transfer Payments on the Labor Force Participation Rate
In the The Wall Street Journal last Thursday, James Piereson of the Manhattan Institute laid out the case for the relationship between a shrinking…
Blog
A Closer Look at The Guardian’s “The Uber Files”
On July 11, 2022, The Guardian published an expose of rideshare giant Uber’s business practices, based on a trove of leaked documents it obtained. However,…
News Release
U.S. Economy Adds 372,000 Jobs in June – Good News for Recession Worries
The U.S. economy added 372,000 jobs in June 2022, according to a new tally released today by the government. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate held steady…
Blog
Supreme Court EPA Ruling A Warning Shot to Agencies like NLRB
The Supreme Court’s ruling in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency that the EPA exceeded its authority under the Clean Air Act is…
News Release
CEI Experts React to Supreme Court’s West Virginia v EPA Decision
WASHINGTON—In deciding West Virginia v. EPA today, the Supreme Court held that Congress never authorized the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon emissions from…
Blog
Federal Agency Tries to Extend Reach with Joint Employer Standard
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal labor law enforcement agency, is likely planning to vastly expand its reach through a rulemaking on something…
Blog
Biden Says He Wants to Be the “Most Pro-Union President in the History of the United States”
Flattering the audience is one of the handiest tools a person has when giving a speech. It’s a simple way to establish a positive tone…
The Hill
An independent commission can bypass congressional dysfunction and help solve the worker shortage
Job openings have been at record highs for a while now, but companies can’t find the workers to fill them. How can Congress help? That…
Blog
One Way to Address Worker Shortage: A Commission to Clear Out Job-Blocking Regulations
Earlier this week, the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee held a hearing to discuss ways to address the worker shortage. There are more than…
Blog
As Gas Prices Rises, Ridesharing Industry Adjusts
Rideshare companies are currently feeling the pinch from high gas prices, but some of their drivers are weathering the change better than others. High gas…
The Hill
Authorizing congressional unions won’t end Democrats’ labor troubles
The Hill cites CEI Research Fellow Sean Higgins discussing congressional unions: Regarding unions, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Sean Higgins explains that then-Speaker…
Freedom Works
AUDIO: Sean Higgins of CEI on job gains
CEI Research Fellow Sean Higgins discusses job gains on Freedom Works Radio.
Blog
Dead Man’s Switch: Biden Administration Fights Railroad Automation
Of all modes of transportation, one would think that railways would be at the leading edge of automation. After all, they don’t use public roads,…
News Release
Latest Employment Report Shows COVID Effects Lingering, Inflation Taking Toll
WASHINGTON—The Department of Labor reported today a gain of 390,000 jobs last month and that the unemployment rate remained at 3.6 percent, as did…
Blog
EEOC Nominee Kalpana Thinks Transparency Is an Important Value, Less Clear on Need to Abide by It
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission may become a lot less accountable in its decision making than it was under the Trump administration should President Biden’s…
Blog
Court Tells NLRB Sometimes a Joke Is In Fact a Joke
In a significant win for common sense, a federal appeals court has found that sometimes a joke is just a joke, even when it…
Blog
Let’s Not Allow Davis-Bacon to Further Clog Job Arteries
The Biden administration is proposing to make government contracting even more expensive by revamping the Davis-Bacon Act. This law requires that related workers on…
Comment
CEI Letter Opposing the Department of Labor’s Proposed Changes to the Davis-Bacon Act
Via Regulations.Gov Hon. Marty Walsh Secretary of Labor United States Department of Labor 200 Constitution Ave NW Washington, DC 20210 Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related…
Blog
House Staffers Can Now Unionize
The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved, for the first time ever, allowing congressional staff to form unions. This will be an interesting experiment. How…
The Washington Times
Teachers’ unions scrutinized over Harvard study of COVID-19 learning
The Washington Times cites CEI Research Fellow Sean Higgins on teachers’ unions: Sean Higgins, a research associate at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, said these…
News Release
April 2022 Job Gains Demonstrate Government Intervention Not Necessary
Today the federal government reported that the U.S. economy gained 428,000 jobs last month (similar to the number added in March). Those gains demonstrate that…
Blog
Unions Are Getting Smarter by Returning to Old-School Organizing Tactics
A new wave of union activism has swept the country in recent months with workers at Starbucks, Amazon, and even Apple pushing to organize. The…
Wall Street Journal
Amazon Takes On the National Labor Relations Board
Amazon is pushing back against the recent union election at its Staten Island facility in a novel way: by taking on the National Labor Relations…
Blog
NLRB General Counsel Calls for End to Secret Ballots in Workplace Elections
The general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is calling on the agency to unilaterally adopt “card check” rules for all union…
The Washington Times
Tech Companies Offer Big Money to Summer Interns for In-Person Work
The Washington Times cites research Fellow Sean Higgins on the future of in-person versus remote internships: “This may lead to internships morphing…
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…
