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The labor movement gave birth to Labor Day, and labor unions remained an important part of the holiday for decades after it was created. Labor union membership reached its peak during the 1950s, when approximately 40 percent of private-sector workers, and a significant number of government workers, belonged to labor unions, but union membership has declined sharply in recent years. In 2012, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, union membership fell to 11.3 percent of wage and salary workers nationwide, including both public- and private-sector workers, the lowest level of union participation since the 1930s.
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