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
Citation
US economy shows momentum but risks continue heading into 2026
The National News Desk cited CEI’s expert on labor hiring “It’s low hire and low fire, and what that means is that people are scared,…
News Release
Tariffs loom over US economy’s disappointing job gains for December 2025
The US economy added a disappointing 50,000 jobs in December 2025, according to government data. CEI experts point to tariffs and economic uncertainty as a…
Blog
Courts reject states’ efforts to take over union law enforcement
A California court late last month struck down a law that would have allowed the Golden State to usurp the role of the National Labor…
Search Posts
WORLD
Help wanted but hard to find
WORLD cites research fellow Sean Higgins on the workforce and COVID-19: Analysts point to different factors behind this conundrum. Sean Higgins, a…
Blog
California App Drivers Seem Happy that Proposition 22 Passed
Ever since Proposition 22’s lopsided November victory in California, critics of that ballot initiative have pushed the narrative that voters were confused by it…
Blog
Latest Jobs Report Shows – Again – that Economy Can Heal Itself
The Department of Labor’s (DOL) latest job numbers are being treated as gloomy news because overall unemployment marginally increased to 6.1 percent…
News Release
Some Good News in April 2021 Job Numbers
The unemployment rate didn’t budge much in April, according to just-released data from the Labor Department, but CEI labor policy expert Sean Higgins…
WORLD
PODCAST: Help Desperately Wanted
WORLD’s podcast, “Help Desperately Wanted,” cited Senior Fellow Sean Higgins on unemployment and COVID-19: Sean Higgins is a research fellow at the…
Letters
CEI and Other Organizations Oppose the PRO Act
Dear Member of Congress, We are writing in opposition to the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. The PRO Act, introduced by Rep. Bobby…
Blog
Biden Administration Says Lets Keep the Rules for Contract Work Vague and Confusing
In a move that surprised no one, the Biden administration announced today it was officially rolling back the Trump administration’s rule under the…
Blog
Is Biden Planning New Payroll Taxes?
President Biden will reportedly use address to Congress tonight to tout his American Families Plan, a major part of which is paid family leave.
Reason
When Joe Biden Talks About Worker Choice, He Means Only 1 Choice
President Joe Biden believes joining a union isn’t merely a right that workers have but something the federal government has an obligation to promote. He…
News Release
President Biden’s Pro-Labor Executive Order Goes Beyond Law’s Intent
President Joe Biden today signed an executive order establishing a new White House task force aimed at promoting labor unions. The White House Task…
The Washington Times
Biden Creates Task Force to Spur Unionization of U.S. Workforce
The Washington Times cites Research Fellow Sean Higgins on pro-union steps taken by president Biden: Sean Higgins, a research fellow with the…
Blog
The One Place Progressives Want the Vote Suppressed: Union Elections
Big business has a new weapon to use against organized labor: mailboxes. That is what the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) claims is…
Blog
DOL On Independent Contractor Rule: We Were Wrong but We Cannot Explain Why
The Biden administration put the Department of Labor (DOL) in the awkward position of having to withdraw its new rule regarding when workers…
Blog
Maybe Workers Just Aren’t That into You, Unions
Labor unions are second only to Donald Trump when it comes to crying foul over election outcomes they don’t like. The National Labor Relations Board…
Comment
Competitive Enterprise Institute Letter In Opposition To Withdrawal of Independent Contractor Status Final Rule
View Full Document as PDF On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), I respectfully submit the following comments in response to the…
Forbes
The Growth-By-Deregulation Alternative To Joe Biden’s Cyclopean American Jobs Plan
Sandwiched between Joe Biden’s $1.9 American Rescue Plan and a promised American Families Plan is the American Jobs Plan (…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Supporting Kyle Fortson Renomination to National Mediation Board
Dear Leader McConnell and Ranking Member Burr, We write to urge you to support the renomination of Kyle Fortson to be a member of the…
News Release
U.S. Economy Added 916k Jobs in March 2021, Further Proof Lifting Govt Restrictions Helps Recovery
The U.S. economy experienced gains in March, due to states reopening and vaccines rolling out. Sean Higgins, CEI research fellow, urged governments to continue…
Reason
Biden’s Infrastructure Plan Would Overturn ‘Right-To-Work’ Laws in 27 States
Reason cites Research Fellow Sean Higgins on the PRO Act: “The PRO Act does strengthen unions, but it does so mainly by…
Blog
Are Janus Violations a RICO Matter?
Ever since the Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in Janus v. AFSCME that public sector workers cannot be forced to financially support unions, labor groups…
Blog
The PRO Act’s Extremely Broad “Whistleblower” Provisions
The Senate confirmed former Boston Mayor and ex-union official Marty Walsh as the new Labor Secretary Tuesday by a vote of 93-2.
News Release
Biden’s Pick for Labor Secretary Has Union-First History
The Senate is expected to soon confirm President Biden’s nominee to head the U.S. Department of Labor, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. CEI labor policy expert…
Blog
Yes, Let’s Debate Taking Rights Away from Workers
Legislation doesn’t get much simpler than the National Right To Work Act. Introduced by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson…
Blog
Biden Administration Wants to Decide When Freelancers Are “Legitimate”
The Department of Labor (DOL) announced Thursday, March 11 that it was rescinding a rule issued by the previous administration on when workers…
Blog
House Passes Legislation to Limit Individual Worker Rights
The House of Representatives passed legislation late Tuesday to significantly limit individual workers’ rights. That is, granted, not how the Protecting the Right…
Blog
Teacher Union Resistance to School Openings Keeping Moms out of Workforce
The closure of schools and the resistance by teachers’ unions to reopening them is having the spillover effect of forcing more women out of the…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposing PRO Act
View Full Document as PDF Dear Members of Congress, We write in strong opposition to the PRO Act and every provision within this bill that…
Blog
Congress Should Read the Fine Print on Sami’s Law
Whether a person is an employee of an app-based ridesharing company like Uber or Lyft under U.S. law has been a major hot button issue.
News Release
U.S. Economy Added 379,000 Jobs in Feb. 2021 – Small Progress, Further Steps Needed
Today the Labor Department released national unemployment figures for the month of February 2021, revealing not much has changed in a month. February’s unemployment rate…
Letters
CEI and Other Organizations Express Strong Support for the Modern Worker Empowerment Act
Dear Senator Scott and Congresswoman Stefanik: On behalf of the Coalition to Promote Independent Entrepreneurs, a national coalition of organizations, companies, and independent entrepreneurs that…
Blog
Alternate Minimum Wage Proposal Suggests Punishing Business Is the Real Goal
Fans of raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour have come up with a workaround for the Senate Parliamentarian’s ruling Thursday that that…
The Washington Examiner
The Secret History of the Minimum Wage Movement
As congressional Democrats push to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, it’s worth asking where that figure came from. Why $15 (more…
News Release
Federal Minimum Wage Hike will Force Cuts Elsewhere
With the Democrat-controlled Congress aiming to imminently pass a plan to increase the federally-mandated minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour nationwide as part…
Blog
Are Democrats All or Nothing for a $15 Minimum Wage?
Can congressional Republicans bid down the Democrats’ and Biden administration’s push for a $15 an hour minimum wage? That’s what Republicans lead by Sens.
Blog
The Regional Differences Argument against a $15 Minimum Wage
The strongest political argument against increasing the federal minimum wage is the regional differences argument. Basically, while a $15 minimum wage might not be a…
Blog
California’s Khanna Says Businesses that Cannot Pay $15 Wages Are Dying Anyway
California Congressman Ro Khanna has a message for businesses that say they cannot afford to pay a $15 minimum wage an hour for their workers:…
The Hill
The Problem With A One-Size-Fits-All Federal Minimum Wage Hike
Minimum wage mandates aren’t free. They force employers to make difficult decisions and tradeoffs. When government forces wages up, non-wage pay goes down: Workers get…
Blog
Biden Administration Presses Forward with Attack on Gig Economy Companies
The Biden administration last week continued its effort to help its union allies by officially withdrawing a Trump-era Labor Department guidance letter to businesses…
Blog
UK Court Ruling on Uber will Mean Fewer, More Expensive Rides, and Fewer Jobs
Today, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled on an important question as to whether certain drivers who work with Uber are entitled to…
Blog
Biden Picks Top Union Attorney to Enforce Labor Rules
The Biden administration announced this week that it was nominating Jennifer Abruzzo to serve as acting general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board…
Blog
CBO Restates the Obvious: Raising the Minimum Wage Costs Jobs
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Monday reaffirmed something we already knew but that bears repeating: Higher minimum wages costs jobs. The CBO’s…
Blog
January Jobs Gain Threatened by Prospect of Minimum Wage Hike
The Labor Department’s report Friday that the unemployment rate was 6.3 percent in January, down 0.4 points from the previous month, is good news that…
Blog
Biden Administration Begins Bid to Create Nationwide Version of California’s AB5
On the same day that President Joe Biden’s nominee for Labor Secretary, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, told a Senate committee that he would…
National Review
The Dark Side of the Minimum Wage
President Biden and his fellow Democrats are pushing hard to increase the federal minimum wage to $15, and polls show strong…
Blog
Questions for Marty Walsh
President Biden’s pick for Labor Secretary, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh will get his first Senate hearing on Thursday. Walsh is a former union head…
Fortune
One of Biden’s First Acts as President May Have Broken the Law
One of Joe Biden’s first acts as President of the United States, the removal of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) general counsel Peter Robb, was…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposing $15 Minimum Wage
View Full Document as PDF Dear Member of Congress, On behalf of millions of taxpayers across the country, we urge you to reject…
Blog
Be Skeptical of Studies that Say Minimum Wage Hikes Are Painless
Do economists downplay the negative findings in their research on the minimum wage? That’s the implication of a new working paper on the issue for…
Inside Sources
Biden Attack on Keystone Pipeline Bodes Ill For Jobs, Economy
Among the list of things President Joe Biden has reportedly promised to do immediately upon taking office is reversing President Donald Trump’s…
The Daily Signal
Will Biden’s Policies Lead to Job Losses? Here Are Possible Economic Impacts of 4 of Them
The Daily Signal cites Senior Fellow Ryan Young on the impact of a minimum wage increase: However, the economic impact isn’t limited…
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