In the United States, Labor Day is a federal holiday. It takes place on the first Monday of September.¹⁾

The purpose of the holiday is to commemorate and acknowledge the American labor movement, as well as the laborers' efforts and contributions to the growth and successes of the United States.²⁾

It falls over a three-day weekend known as Labor Day Weekend.³⁾

As the trade union and labor organizations emerged in the late nineteenth century, trade unionists urged that a day be set aside to commemorate labor.⁴⁾

The Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor sponsored “Labor Day,” and the inaugural march in New York City was arranged by them.⁵⁾

Oregon was the first state in the United States to declare it a public holiday in 1887.⁶⁾

By the time Labor Day became an official federal holiday in 1894, thirty states in the United States were formally celebrating it.⁷⁾

Labour Day is also observed on the first Monday of September in Canada.⁸⁾

On May 1, more than 80 nations observe International Workers' Day, the old European celebration of May Day.⁹⁾

The Second International of socialist and communist groups picked May Day to memorialize the Haymarket event, which happened in Chicago on May 4, 1886.¹⁰⁾

As the trade union and labor organizations emerged in the late nineteenth century, various groupings of trade unionists picked a number of days to commemorate work.¹¹⁾

Labor Day, a September holiday in the United States, was initially suggested in the early 1880s.¹²⁾

According to one early history of Labor Day, the celebration began in September 1882 with a General Assembly of the Knights of Labor in New York City. A public procession of several labor groups was staged on September 5 in connection with this clandestine Knights gathering under the auspices of the Central Labor Union (CLU) of New York.¹³⁾

In the aftermath of this successful public rally, CLU Secretary Matthew Maguire is credited with recommending that a national Labor Day holiday be observed on the first Monday of each September.¹⁴⁾

Another legend is that the concept for Workers Day came from Peter J. McGuire, a vice president of the American Federation of Labor, who, after visiting Toronto and seeing parades honouring labor that May, proposed the first proposal in the spring of 1882.¹⁵⁾

According to McGuire, on May 8, 1882, he proposed to New York City's embryonic Central Labor Union that a day be set aside for a “universal vacation for the working people”.¹⁶⁾

According to McGuire, the event could begin with a street procession as a public display of organized labor's solidarity and power, followed by a picnic to which participating local unions may sell tickets as a fundraiser.¹⁷⁾

According to McGuire, the first Monday in September is an appropriate date for such a public celebration because of the favorable weather and the day's location on the calendar, which is midway between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving public holidays.¹⁸⁾

The Sunday preceding Labor Day was named as “Labor Sunday” by the American Federation of Labor conference in 1909, to be dedicated to the spiritual and educational sides of the labor movement.¹⁹⁾

By 1894, thirty states in the United States were formally commemorating Labor Day. That year, Congress approved legislation designating the first Monday of September as Labor Day and declaring it a federal holiday. On June 28, President Grover Cleveland signed the measure into law.²⁰⁾

However, federal law only designated it a holiday for government employees. Unions encouraged employees to strike as late as the 1930s to ensure they had the day off.²¹⁾

Labor organizations were divided at the time regarding whether a holiday commemorating workers should be observed, with some calling for the ongoing emphasis on the September march-and-picnic date while others desired the designation of the more politically sensitive date of May 1.²²⁾

Conservative Democratic President Grover Cleveland was among those afraid that a May 1 labor holiday would become a remembrance of the Haymarket event, strengthening socialist and anarchist forces worldwide that supported the May 1 commemoration.²³⁾

In 1887, he openly backed the September Labor Day holiday as a less provocative option, ultimately establishing the day as a federal holiday in the United States through a statute he signed in 1894.²⁴⁾

On May 1, the United States has observed Loyalty Day and Law Day since the mid-1950s. Unlike Labor Day, neither is a legitimate public holiday (government offices and most companies do not close to observe), therefore they have remained relatively unknown.²⁵⁾

Many people take two-week vacations during the two weeks after Labor Day. Many autumn activities, such as school and sports, start around this time.²⁶⁾

Many school districts in the United States restart courses around the Labor Day vacation weekend. Some start the week before Labor Day, making Labor Day weekend the first three-day weekend of the school year, while others return on the Tuesday after Labor Day.²⁷⁾

In the U.S. state of Virginia, the amusement park industry has successfully lobbied for legislation requiring most school districts in the state to have their first day of school after Labor Day, in order to give families another weekend to visit amusement parks in the state.²⁸⁾

Labor Day weekend marks the start of various autumn sports in the United States. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) teams normally play their first games that weekend, while the National Football League (NFL) usually plays their first game on the Thursday after Labor Day.²⁹⁾

From 1950 until 2003, and since 2015, the Southern 500 NASCAR car race was staged over Labor Day weekend at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina.³⁰⁾

That weekend, the National Hot Rod Association holds the finals of the NHRA U.S. Nationals drag race at Indianapolis Raceway Park.³¹⁾