Year the first Labor Day celebration took place, in New York City, as a “public tribute to American industry”: 1882
Approximate number of union members who joined a post-parade celebration on Ninth Avenue uptown, which featured speeches, a picnic, and “lager beer kegs . . . mounted in every conceivable place”: 25,000
Year President Grover Cleveland signed an act making the first Monday in September a holiday: 1894
Year Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act, which strengthened unions’ rights to organize and negotiate: 1935
Percentage of US wage and salary workers who belonged to a union in 1935: 9 percent
That figure in 1945: 35 percent
That figure in 1965: 28 percent
That figure in 1985: 18 percent
That figure in 2010: 12 percent
Union membership rate for public sector workers: 36.2 percent
For private sector workers: 6.9 percent
Decline in the number of union workers between 2009 and 2010: 612,000
Union membership rate in NewYork State: 24 percent
NewYork’s rank among US states for rate of union membership: 1
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Average income among the top 1 percent of earners in 2007: $1.3 million
Income of the average middle-income household in 2007: $55,300
Increase in average after-tax income for top 1 percent between 1979 and 2007: 281 percent
Increase for middle fifth of households: 25 percent
Increase for bottom fifth: 16 percent
Average tax cut received by top 1 percent of households in 2001: $41,077
Average tax cut received by those in the middle fifth of households: $760
Collective pay raise among the chief executives of the 500 biggest companies in the US last year: 12 percent
Total compensation earned by these 500 executives: $4.5 billion
Their average compensation: $9 million
Amount earned by the best-paid executive, Stephen Hemsley of UnitedHealth Group: $102million
Salary earned by General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt in 2010: $15.2 million
Size of General Electric’s federal tax refund: $3.3 billion
Amount it invested in lobbying and political campaigns: $41.8 million
Number of the 100 highest-paid CEOs whose company paid less than their salaries in federal taxes: 25
Approximate average amount earned per workday by top 500 executives: $34,600
Amount earned in a year by a full-time minimum-wage worker: $15,080
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Federal minimum wage: $7.25 per hour
Federal minimum wage in 1968: $1.60 per hour
Amount that would be today if adjusted for inflation: $10.39
Minimum wage for tipped workers such as waiters and parking-lot attendants: $2.13
Year the minimum wage was created: 1938
Number of times Congress has raised minimum wage in past 30 years: 3
Number of states whose minimum wage is above the federal standard: 19
Average annual salary among US workers according to 2010 estimate: $44,410
Average for chief executives: $173,350 . . . For sales managers: $114,110 . . . For tax preparers: $37,060 . . . For landscape architects: $66,880 . . . For paralegals: $49,640 . . . For preschool teachers: $29,200 . . . For librarians: $56,360 . . . For graphic designers: $48,140 . . . For pharmacists: $109,380 . . . For firefighters: $47,730 . . . For short-order cooks: $21,030 . . . For barbers: $27,930 . . . For mail carriers: $50,250 . . . For electricians: $51,810 . . .For commercial pilots: $73,490
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Number of workers in the US labor force: 53.2 million
Number out of work: 13.9 million
Federal unemployment rate in August: 9.1
Federal unemployment rate in July 2001: 4.6
Number of fatal work injuries in the US last year: 4,547
Number of workplace homicides: 506
Number in 1994: 1,080
Number of paid vacation days and holidays mandated for all workers in Germany: 34.
In the UK: 25.
In Japan: 10.
In the US: 0.
Average number of vacation days taken by US workers in 2009: 13
Average number taken by British workers: 26
By French workers: 38
Average number of hours worked in 2010 by US workers: 1,778
Average number of hours worked in 2010 by German workers: 1,419
Average number of hours worked each year by Dutch workers: 1,377
Amount of time US employers expect workers to waste per eight hours: 0.94 hour
Number of hours workers report actually wasting: 2.09 hours
Amount of money in salary spent on those hours annually: $759 billion
Biggest time-waster reported by workers: surfing the Internet
Average number of hours wasted daily by people over 56: 0.5
Average number of hours wasted daily by people under 25: 1.95
Proportion of employees who say they’re satisfied with their job: 84 percent
Percentage who say they’re “very satisfied”: 40 percent
Percentage who say they’re “very dissatisfied”: 5 percent
Percentage who said job security was a very important aspect of job satisfaction: 63 percent
Percentage who said compensation was a very important aspect: 53 percent
Percentage who said their employer’s “commitment to a ‘green’ workplace” was very important: 47 percent
Percentage of workers who say they like their boss: 58 percent
Percentage who say that they consider their boss a friend: 14 percent
Percentage who “can’t stand” their boss: 5 percent
Percentage of employees who think they’re smarter than their boss: 37 percent
Percentage who said they’d consider a fling with their boss to get ahead at work: 16 percent
Sources: US Department of Labor, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Census Bureau, Library of Congress, Forbes, Institute for Policy Studies, National Employment Law Project, Congressional Budget Office, Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, Organisation for Economic CoOperation and Development, America Online, Salary.com, Expedia.com, Society for Human Resource Management, MSNZogby, Adecco