Labor Day and May Day emerged from the movement for a shorter workday in industrial America

Labor Day and May Day emerged from the movement for a shorter workday in industrial America

by Jeffrey Sklansky, University of Illinois Chicago, [This article first appeared in The Conversation, republished with permission] Most of the world observes International Workers’ Day on May 1 or the first Monday in May each year, but not the United States and Canada. Instead, Americans and Canadians have celebrated Labor Day as a national holiday on the first Monday in September since 1894, 12 years after the first observance of Labor Day in …