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Labor Day Facts
Labor Day Date Observed:
Enter Year to the Date of Labor Day in Any Year
Enter Year in Format: YYYY
Rule to Determine the Date of Labor Day:
Labor Day is observed on the first Monday in September
Federal Holiday Status
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States. Learn more about federal holidays.
Reason We Celebrate Labor Day:
A celebration of workers.
History of Labor Day:
- Although the movement to have Labor Day had been happening for quite some time, in September 1892, union workers in New York City took an unpaid day off and gathered in Union Square to support the holiday.
- 1894 - President Cleveland made a campaign promise to enact the holiday to win votes and he followed through with his promise.
- 1898 - The head of the American Federation of Labor, Samuel Gompers, called it "the day for which the toilers in past centuries looked forward, when their rights and their wrongs would be discussed...that the workers of our day may not only lay down their tools of labor for a holiday, but upon which they may touch shoulders in marching phalanx and feel the stronger for it."
Observance of Labor Day:
- Family and friends get together for a Picnic
- Last long weekend of the summer season
- Unofficial close of the summer season.