Labor Day Trivia

 Since today happens to be a national holiday, celebrated in varied ways, I thought it would be interesting to share a bit of Labor Day trivia:

For most people, Labor Day signifies the end of summer.

In U.S. sports, Labor Day heralds the beginning of the NFL and college football seasons.

In high society, Labor Day is the last day of the year when it is considered fashionable to wear white.

The first Labor Day officially celebrated in the United States took place on September 5, 1882. It was sponsored by the Central Labor Union of New York.

Oregon was the first state to make it holiday in 1887.

Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894. This act was hastily passed through Congress following an altercation between U.S. Marshals & Military, and workers who were on strike against the Pullman Palace Car Company, an incident that halted railway traffic from Chicago to the West. Unfortunately, 13 strikers were killed, and 57 were wounded during this conflict. To appease the public and a major labor union, President Grover Cleveland and Congress passed this bill six days after the strike ended. The first Monday in September became the official date for this holiday to be celebrated.


Here's a list of the some of the occupations in our nation:

Occupation	Number of employees
Gaming services workers	85,000
Hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists	718,000
Chefs and head cooks	281,000
Firefighters	258,000
Musicians, singers and related workers	179,000
Bakers	183,000
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs	286,000
Service station attendants	96,000
Farmers and ranchers	825,000
Pharmacists	232,000
Teachers	6.5 million

Hmmm . . .  writers didn't make this list, but I happen to know that most of us put in hours of labor with each manuscript. ;)

I also find it interesting that on a day that celebrates the workers of America, most of us play . . . a lot. ;)