NEWS AND OPINION:

Happy 143rd Labor Day to you and yours.

“The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883,” advises the official history of the U.S. Labor Department.

“By 1894, 23 more states had adopted the holiday, and on June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday in September of each year a national holiday,” it advised.

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LABOR: A FEW STATISTICS

In the meantime, Inside the Beltway has paid a polite call to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website. It is, after all, Labor Day.

Here are a few of those statistics from the federal agency’s most current “Employment Situation” in the U.S. The following is a very small portion of the report:

“The unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage point to 4.3% in July, and the number of unemployed people increased by 352,000 to 7.2 million. These measures are higher than a year earlier, when the jobless rate was 3.5%, and the number of unemployed people was 5.9 million,” the report said.

“Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (4.0%) and Whites (3.8%) increased in July. The jobless rates for adult women (3.8%), teenagers (12.%), Blacks (6.3%, Asians (3.7%), and Hispanics (5.3%) showed little or no change over the month,” it continued.

“Among the unemployed, the number of people on temporary layoff increased by 249,000 to 1.1 million in July. The number of permanent job losers changed little at 1.7 million. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) changed little at 1.5 million in July. This measure is up from 1.2 million a year earlier. The long-term unemployed accounted for 21.6% of all unemployed people in July,” the report said.

“The labor force participation rate, at 62.7%, changed little in July and was little changed over the year. The employment-population ratio was little changed at 60% in July but is down by 0.4 percentage point over the year,” the report noted.

YES, THEY WANT A DEBATE

So does the voting public want to witness a debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump? Why, yes. They do.

“With all the back-and-forth between the two campaigns about presidential debates, we conducted an online poll of 1,386 voters from August 28 to August 30, a period that included the disastrous Harris-Walz recorded interview on CNN. The margin of error was 2.8%. We asked: How important is it for Harris and Trump to debate three times, as has been the norm for decades?” asks the Tippinsights Editorial Board — a public opinion organization associated with the Tipp Poll.

“A whopping 75% said it was either very important (48%) or somewhat important (27%). The responses were overwhelmingly in favor across different demographics: Men (77%), Women (72%), White voters (74%), and Black and Hispanic (78%),” the editorial board said in a written statement shared with Inside the Beltway.

“The results were similar in terms of party affiliation: Democrats (76%) and Republicans (79%). Curiously, Independents (69%) seemed relatively less favorable to three debates. The responses were decidedly in favor across income levels (with a minimum of 72%), with voters in the middle class (making $30,000 - $50,000 annually) strongly desiring three debates (79%),” the editorial board said.

“It is the clearest sign yet that the Harris campaign handlers, hoping to run out the clock and install Harris-Walz in the White House without adequate scrutiny, were pathetically out of touch with voters across the spectrum. Voters are legitimately concerned about the events of the past four years and particularly worried about what has happened during the last two months,” the board noted.

MARKING V-J DAY

Friends of the National World War II Memorial and the National Park Service will mark the 79th anniversary of V-J Day (Victory over Japan Day) with a special event Monday at the National World War II Memorial in the nation’s capital.

World War II veterans will be on hand for the occasion, along with Jane Droppa, Friends of the National World War II Memorial chair, and Jeff Reinbold, superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks for the National Park Service. The Military District of Washington’s Armed Forces Color Guard and the United States Marine Band Brass Quintet will also be present.

The vets themselves will place wreaths at the World War II Memorial’s Freedom Wall in remembrance of the more than 400,000 Americans and 60 million people killed worldwide during the deadliest military conflict in human history.

In addition, a “Parade of Heroes” will honor each World War II veteran in attendance; all will be introduced and thanked for their service. The ceremony is open to the public and will be streamed live at 11 a.m. ET via the the World War II Memorial Friends Facebook page (WWIIMemorialFriends). Find the memorial site under the National Park Service, nps.gov/wwii.

POLL DU JOUR

• 46% of U.S. voters trust former President Donald Trump to handle the U.S. economy; 38% trust Vice President Kamala Harris; 15% trust “neither.”

• 45% of voters trust Mr. Trump to handle the immigration situation at the U.S. Mexico border; 36% trust Ms. Harris; 18% trust neither.

• 44% of voters trust Mr. Trump to handle inflation, 36% trust Ms. Harris; 19% trust neither.

• 40% of voters trust Mr. Trump to handle the war between Israel and Hamas; 33% trust Ms. Harris, 26% trust neither.

• 36% trust Mr. Trump to handle gun violence, 42% trust Ms. Harris; 20% trust neither.

• 35% trust Mr. Trump to handle health care, 45% trust Ms. Harris; 19% trust neither.

• 31% of voters trust Mr. Trump to handle abortion issues; 47% trust Ms. Harris; 20% trust neither.

SOURCE: An ABC News/Ipsos poll of 2,496 U.S. adults conducted online Aug. 23-27.

• Contact Jennifer Harper at jharper@washingtontimes.com.