I am writing this entry on the Friday before Labor Day, immediately after the Department of Labor announced the August unemployment rate was 9.7%, the highest in 26 years. The latest numbers account for 216,000 jobs eliminated in August and represent an uptick from an unemployment rate of 9.4% in July.

However, economists had predicted an even higher job loss, leading some to suggest that the slower pace of job losses signals that the recession is beginning to ease. Still, most experts feel it will be many months before we return to pre-recession unemployment numbers.

How ironic to be celebrating the American worker at such a difficult time for most of those very workers.

According to the Department of Labor, The first Labor Day was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882 in New York City as a result of plans developed by the Central Labor Union. In 1894 Congress created the national holiday of Labor Day. It was suggested that there should be parades to highlight ‘the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations’, and a ‘festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families’.

Of course, over the years the holiday has evolved into a long weekend marked by picnics, family gatherings, and golfing. Labor Day signals the end of summer and the beginning of the school year. We rarely consider the true meaning of the holiday.

It is fitting that on this Labor Day of 2009 and the week that follows, we pause to reflect on the great American workforce, which though perhaps bloody and wounded, still represents the best ideals of our forefathers and those who envisioned this holiday.

This workforce has endured a year of downsizing, layoffs, furloughs and other decreases in hours worked or salary earned. Workers have seen co-workers laid off, have been forced to work harder and smarter because their numbers have been thinned, and have worried about the security of their own jobs.

Companies they had thought safe have gone out of business, leaving more workers unemployed. The nightly news is replete with stories about food banks running out of food, unemployment insurance running out and those seeking jobs giving up the quest. Job fairs attract thousands and workers settle for either part time positions or positions they are wildly overqualified for. There is not a single American who has been unaffected by this recession and its attendant job losses, either directly or indirectly.

We can only hope, going forward, that the long decline is nearly over, that in the next few months jobs will be created, furloughs will cease to exist and that by Labor Day 2010, we can truly celebrate the American workforce, confident the worst of times is over.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 7th, 2009 at 4:32 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.