QUINCY (WGEM) - Many Americans look forward to Labor Day as a day off from work, but why is Labor Day celebrated?

The day became an official holiday in 1894, which is celebrated on the first Monday in September each year.

According to History Professor at Quincy University, Dr. Justin Coffey, it was placed in September to act as a day of rest between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving.

In the 19th century, there were no minimum wage laws or forty-hour work weeks; many worked six days a week and got paid whatever their employers wanted to pay them, explained Coffey.

“There was an enormous increase in union workers, urban workers, factory workers, steel workers, that kind of thing,” said Coffey.

Several states had adopted Labor Day as a holiday within their state before 1894, and Peter

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