Labor Day is more than a holiday. It is a living reminder of the strikes, marches, and organizing drives working people led to support their families and build the very foundation of the American middle class.
The Keystone Research Center’s State of Working Pennsylvania makes clear: Labor Day is not only about remembering past victories but about how urgent and fragile the struggle remains today. Workers’ rights must be defended, not just appreciated.
The State of Working Pennsylvania shows that while recent years have brought job growth and record-low unemployment, the ground is shifting beneath workers’ feet. Workers face an unpredictable labor market, unemployment is rising, and wages—after decades of stagnation – are slipping again. Erratic federal policies make it harder for families to get by. Federal worker layoffs, unpredictable tariffs, immigration crackdowns, and cuts to clean energy and manufacturing weaken our economy and narrow the path to advancement.
Labor Day reminds us that these trends are not inevitable, but the outcomes of decisions made by those in power. Just as past generations organized to win weekends, fair wages, and safety, today’s workers must once again insist on policies that put people first.
The State of Working Pennsylvania also shows something powerful: despite the obstacles, workers are still organizing. Support for unions is about the highest it has been since the 1960s, driven by young people who see them not as relics but as tools for fairness and safety in today’s economy. Recent union victories, like the 800 nurses at Magee Women’s Hospital who voted to join just this August, can spark organizing elsewhere. This “contagion effect” is how movements take shape and history turns.
Pennsylvania workers have watched on as every border state has raised their minimum wage—many, quite significantly. Lawmakers’ refusal to raise the minimum wage means that low-wage PA workers received over $10 billion less in wages than their regional counterparts over the last decade. That is not an economic inevitability, it is the price of legislative inaction.
Meanwhile, clean energy and manufacturing investments that once promised thousands of good jobs are being cut, threatening economic recovery and our expansion into industries that support jobs of the future. Labor’s past victories remind us that wages can rise, jobs can grow, and union rights can be strengthened, but only if we honor the value of work in law as well as in words.
Ultimately, Labor Day reminds us of our obligation to the future of this nation. Labor Day is a reminder of the unfinished story of working people in America. Together, we will write the next chapter.
Will the story be one of deepening inequality and silence, or of solidarity, fairness, and shared prosperity? Labor Day reminds us that we still hold the pen, and the ending depends on us.