MARY BRASWELL: Looking back at Labor Day-related items

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or [email protected]. Follow @ABH_MBraswell on Twitter.

The first Monday in September is celebrated as Labor Day in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Here is a mixed bag of labor (work) related items.

— The first observance of Labor Day was likely on Sept. 5, 1882, when some 10,000 workers assembled in New York City for a parade. The parade inspired similar events across the country and by 1894, more than half the states were observing a “workingman’s holiday” on one day or another.

— President Grover Cleveland signed a bill on June 29, 1894, that designated the first Monday in September as Labor Day.

— As of May 2016, 158.5 million people age 16 and over were in the nation’s labor force.

— New York has the highest union membership rate at 24.7 percent; South Carolina has the lowest rate at 2.1 percent.

— The percentage increase in employment was 1.9 percent in the United States between December 2014 and December 2015.

— Real median earnings for male and female full-time, year-round workers was $50,383 and $39,621, respectively, in 2014.

— In 2014, Oregon had 10,629 paid gasoline station employees and New Jersey 17,411 … the only states without self-service gasoline stations.

— The most common time commuters leave home for work is between 7 a.m. and 7:29 a.m. — with 20.6 million commuters.

— Comparison of wage earners of similar age and location differs greatly by educational level. A 21-year-old with no high school diploma, on average, will earn about $14,500 per year. With an associate or technical college degree, that same worker will average $31,700 per year.

ODD JOBS

— A live mannequin (human statue) can make up to $100 per hour.

— Cruise ship entertainers make between $3,000-$4,500 per month plus room and board (and travel).

— A hard-working hotdog vendor can make up to $100,000 per year.

— Modeling a body part can bring in up to $1,000 in an afternoon.

— A casino bingo manager earns, on average, more than $56,000 per year.

— Riding/exercising horses, a job not handled by the jockeys who race them, can add over $50,000 a year to one’s bank account.

DID YOU KNOW?

— Traditionally, people do not wear white or seersucker clothing after Labor Day, as it is unofficially the end of summer.

— Retail salespeople make up the majority of America’s work force.

— About 75 percent of Americans say they plan to keep working after age 65.

— Julius Caesar is credited with inventing the employee referral system. The story goes that Caesar offered 300 silver coins to any soldier for recruiting another into the Roman army.

— The Netherlands has the shortest work week in the world at 29 hours.

— Before the Adamson Act of 1916, workers, especially in factories, worked 10- to 12-hour days. It was not unusual at the time to work at least six, and sometimes seven, days a week.

— Forty percent of worker turnover in America is because of job stress.

— In 2011, an average of 23 American manufacturing facilities shut down … every day.

—The average time spent by recruiters looking at a resume is five to seven seconds. An unprofessional email address eliminates 77 percent of all resumes, while including a photo with the resume causes 88 percent to be rejected.

— More heart attacks occur on Monday than any other day of the week, and 75 percent of those take place between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m.

— Leaders who integrate humor as part of their management style are not only proven to foster greater work performance, satisfaction and cohesion among workers, they are actually perceived as better leaders and managers.

A PROVERBIAL WORD

— Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense. — Proverbs 12:11

— Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor. — Proverbs 12:24

— A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied. — Proverbs 13:4

— All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. — Proverbs 14:23

TAKE A BREAK

— Employees in Peru are entitled to 22 days of paid vacation in addition to 12 paid public holidays.

— In Chile, workers are entitled to 15 days of paid leave, plus another 15 paid public holidays.

— New Zealand employees are entitled to no less than four weeks of paid vacation and another 22 paid public holidays.

— Each wage or salary earner in Lebanon, employed in an establishment for at least one year, is entitled to a total of 15 days of annual leave with full pay.

— For the first two years of continuous employment, Malaysian workers are entitled to eight days of paid leave, with additional days as the length of employment increases. Workers also are paid for 19 public holidays.

— In Nicaragua, every worker enjoys 15 days of continuous paid annual leave after six months of uninterrupted work with the same employer.

— Employees, after their first six months on a job, are entitled to 21 paid days of vacation in Egypt. After five consecutive years of employment, an employee may take one month of paid leave for a religious pilgrimage. All this is in addition to 13 paid public holidays.

— The United States has no statutory minimum paid vacation or paid public holidays. The decision is left with employers to offer any such benefits.

QUIK QUIZ ANSWER: (a) Oregon

Which state was the first to officially recognize Labor Day as a public holiday? Hint: The year was 1887.

a) Oregon

b) Alabama

c) New York

d) Texas

The answer is at the end of Mary’s Braswell’s Looking Back column.