In North America? Then you’ve probably already left for your Labor Day vacation plans. A product of the labor movement, the holiday’s been around since the 19th century. In the US, Labor Day officially became a national holiday on June 29, 1894. And celebrated as early as 1880, Canada also made the holiday official in 1894.
Today, we use the holiday as an unofficial marker to end the summer season. You’ve got one last weekend before you have to put away your white pants, your straw hats, and your boat shoes. Sorry, that’s just canon law. So go get your summer on before it’s time to take out your knitted sweaters, decorative gourds, and pumpkin spice because fall is fast approaching.
To celebrate those awesome laborers in North America, we’re sharing some supply chain statistics about this holiday. Enjoy the day off and share it with the people you love. Don’t worry, these day-off stats and labor free numbers won’t remind you of paper invoices or spreadsheets.
Work hard, America
According to the United States Labor Department, there are 162.25 million civilians employed in the US job market. That’s near record numbers. In fact, Goldman Sachs recently said they believe the unemployment rate will hit 3 percent by 2020. If that prediction holds, it would be “the lowest jobless level since 1953.”
And if you’re working in the Accounts Payable field, a field near and dear to us, there’s over 1.7 million of you. You’ve been working hard to help increase the B2B payments to over 23 trillion by 2020. And you’re moving toward a strategic and collaborative position in your company to align with treasury.
But now you can take a break for the weekend.
And grill
The consensus activity for a good three-day weekend? Grill. The HBPA ran a survey that found 58 percent of Americans fire up the grill for Labor Day. Turns out both US citizens and Canadians love to grill: seven out of 10 Americans and eight out of 10 Canadians own a grill. Fire it up, grill lovers.
Sausage links of the supply chain: Hot dogs
According to the national hot dog and sausage council (NHDSC), hot dog season lasts from Memorial Day to Labor Day. So if you want to get in your last hot dogs of the season, Labor Day is a prime day to throw some on the grill. The NHDSC estimates that during “hot dog season” Americans will eat more than 7 billion hot dogs.
Travel logistics
The forecast for Americans traveling by flight last year was 16.1 million on Labor Day. This year, 25 percent of Americans plan to travel for the holiday weekend, with over 80 percent of them driving. If you’re driving, don’t worry (or continue to shake your fist at) about gas prices: they’re holding steady and shouldn’t significantly jump for the holiday. If you’re flying, it’s probably too late to change your plans, but just so you know, the worst days to fly are the Friday and Tuesday surrounding Labor day weekend. This year, that’s August 31st and September 4th. Wherever you wind up, we’ll cross our fingers and hope you don’t get rained on. Or have any car troubles.
Go forth and relax
There’s a lot of work ahead of us, so take some time to relax this weekend. Pretty soon you’ll be strategizing for the future of your department, but for now, take a breath and enjoy.
When you’re ready to get back to work, check out some tips on getting ahead in your AP career here.
About the Author
Follow on Linkedin