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
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)…

News Release
Escalating trade war with China won’t fix the need for reform: CEI analysis
On Monday, China vowed to retaliate against nations that corporate with President Trump’s tariffs against Beijing, putting potential trade deals between the US and other…
Search Posts
Blog
Mexico wants to keep on trucking
Mexico said it would impose tariffs on about 90 U.S. exports in retaliation for a recent bill that violates the North America Free Trade…
Blog
With news coverage like this…
…does organized labor need a PR operation? In today’s Politico, Jeanne Cummings repeats — without qualification — the half-truth that supporters of the so-called…
Newsletter
Turning Down Stimulus Dollars, Legal Malpractice and a “Socialist” President
A group of governors turn down federal stimulus funding for their states, citing the strings attached by Congress. The Supreme Court rules that drug maker…
Op-Eds
Obama and Dodd Hypocritical on AIG Bonuses
In response to public outrage, Obama is belatedly criticizing the millions of dollars in bonuses that AIG, which is being bailed by taxpayers…
Op-Eds
Obama and Dodd Hypocritical on AIG Bonuses
In response to public outrage, Obama is belatedly criticizing the millions of dollars in bonuses that AIG, which is being bailed by taxpayers…
Blog
Bailouts for Liars, Illegal Aliens, and Undeserved Bonuses
Insurance giant AIG, bailed out by taxpayers for $170 billion, is using taxpayer money to pay executives in the division that brought…
Blog
The Socialism that Dare not Speak its Name
“Socialism” is dead, according to Matthew Dallek, writing in the Politico. I put the term in quotes, because what Dallek defines as socialism is…
Blog
An Explosion of Litigation
Already burdened by $8 trillion in new federal spending commitments and the likelihood of higher taxes to pay for bailouts,…
Blog
States Revolt against Card Check
State legislators are unhappy about the prospect of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) being imposed on their constituents’ businesses. That was a central…
Blog
Economists Give Obama Failing Grade; New Bailouts Demanded As Obama Breaks Promises
Obama gets a failing grade from economists. “U.S. President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner received failing grades for their efforts to…
Newsletter
More Newspaper Layoffs, Card Check Filibuster and Obama’s Failing Grade in Economics
The print news industry takes another hit as The McClatchy Company, the nation’s third largest newspaper publisher, announces plans to layoff 1,600 fulltime employees. Sen.
Blog
Eugene Scalia on Card Check
With passage of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) growing more in doubt, organized labor and its Congressional allies are resorting to pushing the…
Blog
Going Ballistic on Card Check
Today’s Wall Street Journal, in an editorial, notes organized labor’s latest hardball tactic in its effort to help enact the so-called Employee Free…
Newsletter
Cybersecurity Turf War, Strongarm Union Tactics and a Beer Battle in Colorado
President Obama’s chief of cybersecurity quits, citing overbearing control by the Department of Defense’s National Security Agency. Prominent Democrats come out against changes…
Citation
Card Check Could Also Mean Wage and Price Controls
Blog
Obama Insults America’s Allies, Endangers Economy
Not content with endangering the economy by pushing through $8 trillion in bailouts and welfare, Obama has now insulted the…
Blog
Buffett Opposes Card Check, but Don’t Forget Binding Arbitration
Rumors of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) being introduced in the current Congress have come and gone — and will come again. Yet…
Citation
More of Justice Ginsburg’s Political Activism
Blog
$8 Trillion in Bailouts; Undeserving Rich Benefit
Federal bailouts and related spending proposed by the Obama Administration now total 8 trillion dollars, according to the American Institute for Economic Research.
Blog
George McGovern on Card Check
Former Democratic Senator and presidential candidate George McGovern continues to speak out against the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, which he has described as an…
Newsletter
$75 Billion for Bad Mortgages, Card Check in Congress and Lowering Global Warming Expectations
The White House unveils the details of its $75 billion mortgage “rescue” spending package. Democrats in Congress push for changes in labor organizing rules. President…
Blog
New Study Shows Job Loss Data under Card Check
This week, Dr Anne Layne-Farrar, an economist with the Law and Economics Consulting Group, published a new study in which she analyzes the likely…
Blog
Imagine There’s No Agency
Washington spends and regulates, and it’s hard to make it stop doing either. Government agencies and programs attract constituencies that want to keep them around,…
Newsletter
Beer Taxes, the Beige Book and Drug Safety Before the Supreme Court
Oregon becomes one of the states seeking to raise new revenue by increasing taxes on beer. The Federal Reserve releases its…
Blog
Distorting the News, to Obama’s Advantage: Ledbetter v. Goodyear and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
Distorted press coverage of a Supreme Court decision gave a big boost to the Obama campaign, which made the decision a major campaign…
Blog
GM Volt may not be cost-effective for consumers, study says
A study by Carnegie Mellon finds that the Chevy Volt, GM’s rechargeable battery-driven car designed to go 40 miles on electricity, is “not cost effective in any scenario,” Bloomberg…
Blog
DC on the School Reform Front Lines, Again
Today’s Washington Post features an editorial that strongly criticizes Congressional Democrats’ rush to kill the District of Columbia’s school voucher program, which enjoys bipartisan…
Blog
Zero-Based Governing and Improving the State of the Union
Removing burdensome regulations on small business hasn’t figured much into the economic recovery program thus far. Too bad. Alternatives to “spendulus” and the “Bailout to…
Blog
SOTU Watch: New Labor Secretary
The Senate confirmed Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) as Secretary of Labor this afternoon. It will be worth watching whether President Obama acknowledges her confirmation…
Blog
SOTU Watch: Energy Claims
The President might make various remarks relating to energy tonight. These are likely to center around grandiloquent claims as to the effectiveness of “green jobs”…
Blog
SOTU Watch: Card Check
In President Obama’s State of the Union speech tonight, one thing to watch for is mention of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) —…
Blog
Carney Takes on Stimulus on Liddy, Osorio Takes on Card Check
Today, I was on the G. Gordon Liddy Show, to discuss the current prospects of the misleadingly named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which, as…
Blog
Top Ten Federal Rules to Jettison — According to Small Businesses
The Small Business Administration’s Regulatory Review and Reform initiative (r3) has a new compilation of rules that need reform, according to small businesses across…
Blog
To Know Card Check is to Hate it
A recent survey of 1,000 likely voters, conducted in January by the consultancy McLaughlin & Associates, finds an overwhelling majority opposed to the so-called…
Blog
Obama’s Futile Attempts at Foreclosure Avoidance
If the government wants to spend $75 billion to help troubled homeowners, it would be better off giving a tax holiday to families subject to…
Blog
NADA report proves California waiver would create regulatory patchwork
A front-burner issue facing Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson is whether to grant a waiver under the Clean Air Act allowing the California…
Blog
The Birthday of an Entrepreneur
February is an important month in the history of American commerce. In a few days will be the birthday of one of the country’s earliest…
Op-Eds
When Mexicans Have More Rights than U.S.
The Obama Administration and its nominee for Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, are seeking to all but eliminate the secret ballot in union elections, a…
Citation
Mexico’s Supreme Court and the Superiority of Secret Ballots
Blog
UNITE-HERE to Disunite?
UNITE-HERE, the 450,000-member textile and hospitality union, is embroiled in a “civil war,” according to its president, who is now openly considering breaking up the…
Blog
The Prince and the Paupers
I still regard myself as a loyal subject of Her Britannic Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, but it’s hard not to come over all Cromwellian when…
Blog
Why “doing nothing” is something really big: Stopping the Anti-Stimulus
Robert Higgs, he of the famous “ratchet effect” theory of government growth (up but never down in answer to a crisis), has…
Newsletter
Stimulus Showdown, New SEC Rules and Obama’s Labor Pains
Aides on Capitol Hill prepare for negotiations between House and Senate versions of the economic stimulus bill. New Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Schapiro…
Blog
Today’s Gift to Big Labor
Even as the nomination of Hilda Solis for Labor Secretary remains stalled due to tax and potential ethics rules troubles, organized labor got a…
Blog
More Questions about Solis
Today’s Washington Examiner proposes some questions which Senators should ask Obama Labor Secretary nominee Hilda Solis. Solis is treasurer and a member of the…
Blog
For Obama, No Solace in Solis
This afternoon, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee abruptly canceled a session to consider the nomination of Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) for Labor…
Citation
Obama’s Top Economic Adviser Conceding ‘Considerable Uncertainty’ About Stimulus Jobs Claims
Blog
Stimulus Plan Repeats Mistakes That Spawned Great Depression
The European Union is threatening a trade war over provisions in the $800 billion “stimulus” package backed by Obama and Congressional leaders. The Great…
Newsletter
Stimulus Transparency, Springsteen on Wal-Mart and the Mirage of Green-Collar Jobs
Developers launch StimulusWatch.org to keep track of the hundreds of billions of dollars Congress is planning to spend to stimulate the economy. Bruce Springsteen grabs…
Blog
Springsteen clashes with Obama advisor on Wal-Mart
In between playing at the Lincoln Memorial for Barack Obama’s inaugural concert and performing the half-time show last night at the Super Bowl, Bruce Springsteen…