Labor Day

Monday, September 5

BY Rachel Z. Arndt | August 8, 2011

With all the hot dogs and beer, it's easy to forget the labor part of Labor Day. President Grover Cleveland instituted this work-free Monday in 1894, choosing the date to both recognize the Central Labor Union's labor day and avoid associating the holiday with May 1, the labor day celebrated by the International Workers of the World and marked by the 1886 Haymarket riots. Here, a look at the labor force, past and present, starting with 1971, when the microprocessor was introduced and we began our crawl away from manufacturing and toward the service-driven economy of today.

Infographic: Labor Day