GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) While many people say Labor Day marks the “unofficial end to summer,” there’s more meaning behind the holiday.
On Monday, we celebrate the working class and all of those who keep our country running.
“This is a day where we celebrate and honor working people in the country,” said Julie Su, Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor.
From blue-collar workers to educators, doctors and beyond, Labor Day honors all workers who contribute to our society.
“Labor Day is a day to really stop and think about the working people who carried the country on their backs through the pandemic, who continue to provide critical services to do critical work,” said Su.
Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor, Julie Su expressed her gratitude to the working class and reflected on our country’s growth.
“It’s also a time to honor the protections that have been hard fought and hard won with minimum wage and overtime the right to a healthy and safe workplace. And it’s a time to honor workers who don’t get the holiday; working people who still have to go to work to keep things going. We celebrate all of those things on Labor Day,” said Su.
As we observe the holiday, Su said our recovering economy continues to look up.
“I think we have seen a great recovery. We are also seeing real wages rise for low- and middle-income Americans and we are trending to a period of what we call steady and stable growth,” said Du. “It’s not like those really hot numbers that we kept saying oh does this mean a recession is coming? It’s just, you know, steady.”
Su also said employment numbers are trending in the right direction.
“We have a record low number of unemployment. It’s been less than 4%. It’s the longest stretch since the 1960s. We are seeing workers come back into the labor market after COVID at record numbers, especially prime age numbers,” said Su.
The Department of Labor said ‘Thank You’ for the contributions of our working class. Leaders said they make up America’s strength, prosperity and well-being.
“Thank you for the work that you do,” said Su. “Thank you for the way that you are advancing our country and I do hope that you get some time to spend with family and loved ones.”
Labor Day has been a nationally recognized holiday since the nineteenth century. In 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed it into law, making the holiday the first Monday in September each year.
