ASPPA Connect Observes Labor Day

ASPPA Connect will not be published on Monday, Sept. 4, as the ASPPA offices will be closed in observance of Labor Day. It will return on Wednesday, Sept. 6. And in keeping with the theme, here are some facts concerning labor in the United States. 

• The Department of Labor was established on March 4, 1913, when hours before leaving office, outgoing President William Howard Taft signed into law the measure creating it. The law establishing the DOL said that its purpose was "to foster, promote and develop the welfare of working people, to improve their working conditions, and to enhance their opportunities for profitable employment."
• At its establishment in 1913, the DOL consisted of the U.S. Conciliation Service (USCS), which mediated labor disputes; the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS); the Bureau of Immigration; the Bureau of Naturalization; and the Children's Bureau. 
• Frances Perkins was the first woman ever to serve in a cabinet in the executive branch of the federal government; President Franklin D. Roosevelt named her to be Secretary of Labor, and she served in that capacity from 1933 to 1945. 
• In 2022, 7.12 million private-sector employees belonged to unions, as did 7.21 million public-sector employees, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 
• The first strike in the United States was during colonial days, in 1768.
• The first union formed in the United States was the Philadelphia Shoemakers Union, formed in 1794. 
• The first minimum-wage law in the United States was enacted in Massachusetts in 1912; it set a minimum hourly rate for women and children under age 18.
• The first federal minimum wage was set in 1938; it was $0.25 per hour.
• Two-thirds of private-industry employees—66%—had access to a defined contribution plan in March 2022, according to the BLS; 48% participated. 
• 15% of private-industry employees had access to a defined benefit plan in March 2022, according to the BLS; 11% participated.