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 adds 139,000 jobs in May, labor market growth slows: CEI analysis
May added 139,000 jobs to the economy, with the unemployment rate staying unchanged at 4.2 percent. Trump’s policies, namely his mission to shrink the…
Blog
Initiative 82 will hopefully get 86’d
The city of Washington, DC has belatedly realized that passing a law whose purpose is to make a product or service more expensive will cause…
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…
Search Posts
News Release
Judge’s Injunction on Arizona Immigration Law Doesn’t Stop Law’s Harmful Impact
Washington, D.C., July 28, 2010 — Arizona’s controversial anti-immigration law goes into effect Thursday, despite a partial injunction handed down Wednesday by U.S. District Judge…
Op-Eds
Bill Would Mandate Equal Pay for Unequal Work (Letter to the Editor)
Diana Furchtgott-Roth was right to criticize a bill that would require some people who do unequal work to be paid equal amounts. The perverse “Paycheck…
Newsletter
Online Privacy, Food Safety and Unemployment Benefits
The Senate Commerce Committee prepares for a hearing on consumer online privacy. Environmental groups sue to compel the Food and Drug Administration to ban the…
Blog
Who is Elizabeth Warren and why does Big Labor Love Her?
The Dodd–Frank Financial Regulation Bill, which President Obama signed today, created yet another Czar to head yet another Executive Agency, the…
Blog
Automakers Face Potentially Massive Race-Discrimination Class-Action Lawsuit Thanks to Obama Administration
“Decisions on which car dealerships to close as part of the auto industry bailout — closures the Obama administration forced on General Motors and Chrysler…
Blog
Richard Blumenthal Rated Second-Worst Attorney General in America
Connecticut Attorney General Dick Blumenthal has just been rated the second-worst state attorney general in America by the Competitive Enterprise Institute in its recent…
Blog
President Obama Signs Dodd-Frank Financial “Reform” Bill: 2315 Pages of Special-Interest Payoffs
President Obama today signed into law the Dodd-Frank financial “reform” bill, the “most sweeping overhaul of U.S. financial market regulations since the Great Depression.”…
Newsletter
Elena Kagan’s Nomination, Obama Signs Financial Regulation Bill and Defending the Right to Work
The Senate Judiciary Committee approves the nomination of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court. Today President Obama will sign recently-passed financial regulation bill into…
News Release
Extending Unemployment Benefits Will Increase Unemployment, Hurt Economy
Washington, D.C., July 21, 2010—The Senate today approved an extension of federal unemployment benefits to a maximum of 99 weeks. This move is likely to…
Study
Union Pensions in Crisis
Full Document Available in PDF Union pensions are in trouble, and financial watchdogs such as Moody’s…
Citation
Union Hiring Unemployed to Walk Picket Lines
Vincent Vernuccio on Fox Business, Varney and Company http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/4285533/unions-hire-unemployed-to-walk-picket-lines/?playlist_id=87060 …
Citation
Vincent Vernuccio on Non-Union Union Pickets
Competitive enterprise institute Labor Policy Counsel Vincent Vernuccio explains potential union pension bailouts. …
Op-Eds
Michigan a Right to Work State?
Oakland County Sherriff Mike Bouchard, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor, called for making Michigan a right to work State in a…
Blog
EPA, Not Jones Act, Blocked Dutch Skimmers
It was apparently the EPA, not the Jones Act, that blocked Dutch skimmers from cleaning up the oil spill in Louisiana in late April:…
Newsletter
Financial Regulation, Immigration and Climate Legislation
The Senate prepares to vote on a financial regulation bill. A Heritage Foundation report finds that deportation of undocumented immigrants has fallen during the Obama…
Blog
Heritage Foundation Wrong on Obama Immigration Enforcement
The Heritage Foundation’s Matt Meyer wrote here that the Obama administration’s year old worksite audit program is resulting in “far fewer deportations of illegal immigrants.” …
Blog
Readers Contest Factcheck.Org’s “Oil Spill, Foreign Help, and the Jones Act”
FactCheck.org argued that the Jones Act, which ordinarily bans both foreign ships and foreign crews from working in U.S. waters, did not interfere with foreign…
Blog
New “stimulus plan” brewing in Congress
It is actually less of a “stimulus” plan and more of a “get government out of the way and stop inhibiting growth” plan. A bi-partisan…
Blog
Unintended Consequences of Unemployment Benefits
This letter of mine ran in today's New York Times in response to Paul Krugman's July 4 column.
Op-Eds
Bad Immigration Laws Are for Repealing, Not Enforcing
Immigration reform is at a crossroads. When Arizona passed its anti-immigration law in the spring, it said it was doing so because the federal government…
Op-Eds
Will 2010 be the Year States say Enough is Enough?
For decades, government employees at every level have received steadily increasing compensation—including salary, pensions, and health care benefits—thanks to the political clout of public employee…
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: May – June 2010
To view this issue of the CEI Planet, please click here to download the PDF file. Below are selected articles from the May-June 2010 issue: Collective…
Newsletter
Regulating Strippers, Blowout Prevention and Kagan’s Hearings
Missouri enacts “anti-stripper” legislation placing new restrictions on adult entertainment establishments. The House of Representatives holds a hearing on the Blowout Prevention Act. Elena Kagan’s…
Blog
Liberal Senators Make False Claims About Supreme Court’s Ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear, During Kagan Confirmation Hearings
Liberal Senators like Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) are peddling fables about a Supreme Court ruling, Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
Blog
Anti-stripper law could create more prostitution
As so many journalists have punned, recently passed anti-stripping legislation makes the “Don’t Show Me” state a far more appropriate nickname for Missouri. Yesterday, Gov.
Blog
Supreme Court Dooms Chicago Gun Ban; Obama Judicial Nominees Oppose Gun Rights; Religious Clubs Lose First Amendment Case; Removal of High-Ranking Bureaucrats Made Easier
The Supreme Court doomed Chicago’s handgun ban Monday by ruling 5-to-4 that the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments…
Citation
Spreading Lies on the Ledbetter Case
Blog
Life Imitates The Simpsons – again
The Politico reports that Sen. Harry Reid (D.-NV) has hit on a new scheme for passing the chronically unpopular climate legislation that has been…
Op-Eds
Arizona Declares War on Capitalism
The most persistent misunderstanding about Arizona’s new anti-immigration law, SB 1070, is that it is about security. The law’s supporters argue that there is…
Blog
New Federal Interference With Oil-Spill Clean-Up: Feds Stop Louisiana From Dredging Needed to Create Protective Sand Berms
A TV station in New Orleans reports that “the federal government is shutting down the dredging that was being done to create protective sand…
Blog
Stimulus Package to Cost $75 Billion More Than Predicted; Plus, Government-Employee Bailout Sought
The stimulus package is going to cost at least $75 billion more than the $787 billion the Obama administration claimed, according to the Congressional…
Op-Eds
Constitutionality Aside, Look at the Economic Damage
Last week, the Obama administration confirmed that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will file a lawsuit to challenge Arizona’s immigration law, SB 1070 before…
Op-Eds
The Great Immigration Deception
Arizona’s controversial immigration law and Democratic responses to it have ignited a fierce political fight that will only intensify as the law goes into…
Newsletter
Oil Spill Assistance, Immigration Crackdown and Money for Nothing
The White House refused to allow foreign ships to assist with cleanup of the BP oil spill. Arizona’s immigration crack-down inspires a public referendum on…
Blog
Obama Administration Blocks Clean-Up of Oil Spill by Louisiana and Foreign Allies By Imposing Red Tape
The Obama Administration recently used red tape to force Louisiana to stop using 16 barges that were cleaning up the Gulf…
Op-Eds
The New King of Detroit
Yesterday, the United Auto Workers union (UAW) named Bob King as its new president. Does this mean a change in direction for one of…
Blog
Obama Uses Oil Spill to Push Failed Energy Policies
In his speech last night, President Obama used the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to push his failed energy policies, such…
Study
A Drought of Reason and Investigation
An Examination and Critique of the Center for Immigration Studies’ “A Drought of Summer Jobs”…
Blog
Financial “Reform” Bill Engages in Racial Engineering, While Ignoring Corrupt Mortgage Giants
Congress and the Obama administration refused to do anything about the corrupt government-sponsored mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, even though administration…
Blog
Obama Blocked Clean Up of BP Oil Spill by Friendly Countries; International Assistance Blocked by Regulations Obama Had The Authority To Waive
Crucial offers to help clean up BP’s oil spill “have come from Belgian, Dutch, and Norwegian firms that . . . possess some of the…
Blog
Obama Wants Taxpayers to Cough Up $50 Billion To Bail Out Public-Employee Unions
President Obama now wants Congress to spend $50 billion to keep state governments from laying off government employees. In essence, this is a bailout…
Op-Eds
Obama Refuses to Waive Law to Allow Foreign Help With Oil Spill
Crucial offers to help clean up BP’s oil spill “have come from Belgian, Dutch, and Norwegian firms that . . . possess some of…
Blog
Obama Fires Inspector General Who Uncovered Fraud, and Honors Defrauder Instead
Earlier, President Obama fired the inspector general for the AmeriCorps program after he uncovered fraud by Obama crony Kevin Johnson. (Johnson did not…
Newsletter
Murkowski v. EPA, Big Labor and Debit Card Fees
The Senate will vote today on Lisa Murkowski’s resolution to block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gasses under the Clean Air Act. Arkansas…
Op-Eds
Halter’s Loss a Major Blow for Big Labor
Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter’s failure to win his state’s Democratic nomination was a crushing defeat for organized labor, which went all-out…
Blog
BP Supported Obama Stimulus Package, Global Warming Bill, and Corporate Welfare; BP Bankrolled Obama Campaign
Columnist Tim Carney notes that BP, responsible for the massive oil spill, is “a close friend of big government whenever it serves the company’s…
Blog
Halter’s Loss a Major Blow for Big Labor
Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter’s failure to win his state’s Democratic nomination is a crushing defeat for organized labor, which went all-out in…
Blog
Obama Uses BP Oil Spill to Push Corporate-Welfare-Filled Global Warming Bill That BP Once Lobbied For
Talk about chutzpah. President Obama, the biggest recipient of campaign cash from BP, is using BP’s oil spill to push for a global…
Blog
Media Give Disgraced Politician Eliot Spitzer a Soapbox to Lecture the Public
Eliot Spitzer, who was forced out as Governor of New York after paying prostitutes tens of thousands of dollars and then violating federal finance laws…
Blog
Obama Administration Pushes More Bailouts at Taxpayer Expense; America to Bail Out Corrupt Union Pension Funds
The Obama administration and its congressional allies are now pushing for billions more in bailouts for mismanaged union pension funds, and teachers unions. The union…
