Special Report: Belaboring Labor Day

By George N. Saliba, Managing Editor On Sep 1, 2017

From a generally accepted cultural standpoint, summer unofficially concludes today (summer “officially” ends on September 22), and schools and the business community will lurch into higher gears this week.

The concept of Labor Day in the United States dates to the 1880s, but it was only designated as a national holiday by President Grover Cleveland and Congress following the Pullman Strike of 1894. The Pullman Company had decreased wages for its workers but not the rents the employees paid for company-related housing. Labor Day remains an official national holiday 123 years later.

An Economic Assessment

This historical backdrop brings us to 2017: The United States Department of Labor announced on Friday that the US economy added 156,000 jobs in August; the unemployment rate rose one tenth of a percentage point to 4.4 percent; and the previously announced jobs gains for June and July were revised downward by approximately 41,000.

In the Garden State, the unemployment rate as of July (the latest statistics available) was 4.2 percent, total nonfarm employment was 4,132.3 million in July, and it remains to be seen how an e-commerce industry (including logistics, industrial real estate, seaports), construction in “hot” locales such as Jersey City, and companies involved in financial technology (or technology in general), might help continue to drive our economy in the final months of 2017.

From a more panoramic view, the longest economic expansion in the United States was for approximately 10 years during the 1990s, and while the labor market for the past eight years does not match that of the ‘90s, the US is technically now in its eighth year of economic expansion. At least some economists are concerned that as this expansion becomes increasingly mature, the risk of it derailing increases, over time.  Other economists are optimistic, and cite factors supporting continuing expansion.

Conclusion

Of course, such matters can be contemplated beginning Tuesday, September 5.  In the meantime, readers may still enjoy one last summer canoe ride, hike, group photograph – or walk along the beach.

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