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Labor Day is an annual holiday to celebrate the economic and social contributions of workers to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of the country. In the United States, Labor Day is a federal holiday observed on the first Monday of September.

In the United States, Labor Day is customarily viewed as the end of the summer vacation season, although school starting times now may vary.

Labor Day has its origins in the labor union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest. In the United States the first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country. Oregon was the first state to make it a holiday on February 21, 1887. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894, thirty states officially celebrated Labor Day.

For many countries, Labor Day is linked with International Workers’ Day, which occurs on May 1. For other countries, Labor Day is celebrated on a different date, often one with a particular significance significance for the labor movement in that country. (Some sources report it was to add a holiday in the large gap between Independence Day and Thanksgiving Day.)

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