A Deep Dive Into Some Things We’re Celebrating This Labor Day Weekend
158.5 million | The number of people age 16 and over in the nation’s labor force as of May 2015.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table A
Top 10 occupations in U.S.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupations with the Highest Employment, May 2015
Say Goodbye to Summer
Labor Day is celebrated by most Americans as the symbolic end of the summer and the start of the back-to-school season.
25,214 |The number of shoe stores for back-to-school shopping in 2014. Also catering to back-to-school needs were 28,138 family clothing stores; 7,898 department stores; 7,351 children and infants’ clothing stores; 6,823 office supply and stationery stores; and 6,888 book stores.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 County Business Patterns
21,830 | The number of sporting goods stores nationwide in 2014. Examples of these types of stores include athletic uniform supply, fishing supply and exercise equipment, as well as bicycle and golf pro shops. In U.S. sports, college football teams usually play their first games the week before Labor Day, with the NFL traditionally playing its first game the Thursday following Labor Day.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 County Business Patterns, NAICS 451110
53,306 | The number of travel agents employed full time, year-round in the U.S. in 2014. In addition, there were 15,875 tour and travel guides employed full time, year-round nationwide. On a weekend intended to give U.S. workers a day of rest, many people climb into their drivers’ seats or board an airplane for a quick end of the summer getaway.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 American Community Survey, Table B24124
904,084 |The number of paid employees (for the pay period including March 12) who worked for a gasoline station in the U.S. in 2014.Oregon (10,629 paid gasoline station employees) and New Jersey (17,411 paid gasoline station employees) are the only states without self-service gasoline stations. Oregon was the first state to make Labor Day a holiday in February 1887.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 County Business Patterns, NAICS 447
The Commute to Work
New York City Labor Day Parade, circa 1910, Library of Congress via Flickr Commons
6.3 million |T he number of commuters who left for work between midnight and 4:59 a.m. in 2014. They represented 4.5 percent of all commuters. The most common time was between 7 a.m. and 7:29 a.m. – with 20.6 million commuters.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 American Community Survey, Table B08132
4.5% | The percentage of workers age 16 and over who worked at home in 2014.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 American Community Survey, Table B08128
76.5% | The percentage of workers age 16 and over who drove alone to work in 2015. Another 9.2 percent carpooled and 0.6 percent biked to work.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 American Community Survey, Table S0801
26.0 minutes | The average time it took workers in the U.S. to commute to work in 2014. New York (32.6 minutes) and Maryland (32.3 minutes) had the most time-consuming commutes.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 American Community Survey, Table R0801
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