Labor Day fell on Monday, September 7, 2026, in the 2026 federal holiday calendar. The holiday is observed on the first Monday in September. The Department of Labor's history of the holiday traces it to nineteenth-century labor activism and state recognition before federal adoption.
Oregon became the first state to pass a law recognizing Labor Day, in February 1887. Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York followed during that year. The federal holiday came later, in 1894.
Federal recognition and working schedules
The Office of Personnel Management publishes federal holiday information. Its calendar does not establish the schedule of a private workplace, school or local service, or mean every worker receives the same day off. A service within an open building may also operate on a different schedule.
The Department of Labor describes a holiday recognizing workers' social and economic contributions. That origin in labor organizing preceded the federal calendar entry and the long weekend familiar today.
The Labor Department dates the first celebration to September 5, 1882, in New York City. That was before the federal holiday and before Oregon's state law. The 1882 celebration, 1887 state laws and 1894 federal recognition were separate stages in the holiday's development.
