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30 victories for workers’ rights won by organized labor over the years
30 victories for workers’ rights won by organized labor over the years
Today, American workers have a host of rights and recourses should their workplace be hostile or harmful. While the modern labor movement works to continue to improve the working conditions for all, with big efforts around a fair minimum wage and end of employer wage theft, the movement has a history rich with fights and wins. It put an end to child labor, 10-to-16 hour workdays, and unsafe working conditions.
Stacker compiled a list of 30 of the most consequential victories that unions fought for in the name of workers’ rights. The list includes information about the milestones unions achieved and the circumstances that made those victories worth fighting for.
Today, every wage-earning American owes a debt of gratitude to organized labor for the 40-hour workweek, minimum wage (such as it is), anti-discrimination laws, and other basic protections. Far from basic, those protections were, until fairly recently, pipe dreams to the millions of American men, women, and children who labored endlessly in dreadful conditions for poverty wages.
The gratitude is owed mostly to the unions those nameless and disposable workers organized, which they did under the threat of being fired, harassed, evicted from company homes, beaten, jailed, and, in many cases, killed. In 1886, for example, over 200,000 railroad workers went on strike to protest an unjust firing. In 1894, over 250,000 workers walked out of the Pullman Palace Car Company factories to protest 12-hour workdays and wage cuts.
The 2018 Supreme Court case Janus v. AFSCME established that public-sector workers who are protected by unions—of which there are five times as many as private workers—but don’t wish to join, no longer have to pay fees on behalf of the union’s collective bargaining. This dealt a blow to public-sector unions, though it didn’t result in the mass exodus union detractors had hoped for. Overall union membership in the U.S. in 2020 was at 10.8%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. While that’s a historical low rate, some industries—like digital media, museums, and non-profits—are making inroads with new unions.
Over the decades, there have been far more losses than victories, but the victories the labor movement did achieve made earning a living in the United States a much more equitable, fair, safe, and profitable proposition. These wins show what is possible for the modern labor movement. Keep reading to explore 30 hard-fought victories that America’s working class won in our names.
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Jorge Royan // Wikimedia Commons
1794: Shoemakers organize America’s first union
The rise of so-called journeymen societies in 1794 led to the creation of the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers of Philadelphia, which worked to protect the wages of shoemakers, who toiled in a large and profitable industry. The society was the first true union and can be considered the genesis of the American labor movement. The moment is also significant because it was the first time tradespeople organized for protection against “scabs,” workers willing to undermine demands for better pay by agreeing to work for cheaper wages—a dynamic that would remain a central theme throughout the entire history of the labor movement.
Southworth & Hawes // Wikimedia Commons
1842: Commonwealth v. Hunt legalizes unions
A court in 1806 ruled against the shoemakers and declared the act of organizing for higher wages to be a criminal conspiracy. More than three decades later in 1842, a high court in Massachusetts overturned that precedent in Commonwealth v. Hunt, which declared that workers do, in fact, have a right to organize and strike.
[Pictured: 19th chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Lemuel Shaw, who served from Aug. 30, 1830–Aug. 21, 1860.]
stephen boisvert // Flickr
1866: National Labor Union is created
The end of slavery emboldened laborers around the country to capitalize on the national sentiment and pursue better conditions for themselves. A year after the Civil War, the formation of the National Labor Union represented the first nationally organized workers’ rights group. The organization’s efforts went a long way to raising awareness, but the group dissolved in 1873 and soon after, a series of violent strikes and successful corporate anti-labor campaigns compelled much of America to sour on the movement.
Wikimedia Commons
1882: The first Labor Day Parade marks a movement
On Sept. 5, 1882, New York City hosted the country’s first Labor Day Parade; around 10,000 workers marched in what is now an annual event, and the holiday was soon moved to the first Monday in September, just as it is celebrated today. Although a parade, of course, didn’t directly improve working conditions, the moment signified a psychological victory for labor and indicated a shift in public opinion that would ultimately lead to the rise of the progressive era in the 20th century.
Wikimedia Commons
1898: Erdman Act briefly ends union blacklists
In the second half of the 19th century, several major labor groups like the American Federation of Labor emerged as major strikers and often-brutal government and corporate reprisals created a nearly constant state of unrest. Much of that unrest was concentrated around railroad work, most notably, the Pullman Strike of 1894.
In an effort to quell tensions, the federal government passed the Erdman Act, which provided workers with arbitration and mediation options, while banning railroad companies from firing or refusing to hire workers for joining a union, a common intimidation tactic known as yellow-dog contracts. It would eventually lead to the more comprehensive Railway Labor Act of 1926, but not before the Supreme Court struck down the Erdman Act’s key provisions 10 years later in 1908.
Kheel Center // Flickr
1909: The Uprising of the 20,000 demands change
In 1909, the women’s rights movement and the labor movement converged with the Uprising of the 20,000, a strike launched by sweatshop laborers known as shirtwaist workers, who were mostly young, immigrant women. The strikers protested low wages, long hours, and appalling conditions, especially the frequent and intentional locking of doors and fire escapes to prevent workers from leaving or even from taking breaks. The uprising secured the support of the powerful and well-heeled Women’s Trade Union League, and by 1910, most of the protestor’s employers agreed to sign union contracts.
Keystone // Getty Images
1911: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire exposes conditions
On March 25, 1911, the deadliest industrial disaster in New York City history changed the course of the labor movement when the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire killed 146 sweatshop workers, mostly women. Although the owners and management staff escaped unharmed, the workers found themselves in a death trap of locked doors, blocked fire escapes, and highly flammable material, like the kind the 1909 protestors had warned about. Although the fire itself, of course, was hardly a victory for labor, the death of the workers was not in vain—it galvanized the previously scattered and frequently infighting labor movement to unify, and stoked public outrage and demand for change.
Bain News Service // Wikimedia Commons
1913: The Department of Labor is formed
On March 4, 1913, the efforts of generations of labor activists were realized, at least in part, when President William Howard Taft signed a law creating the U.S. Department of Labor. The labor movement now had representation in a Cabinet-level agency.
Lewis Wickes Hine // Wikimedia Commons
1916: Keating-Owen Act briefly curtails child labor
By the turn of the 20th century, 2 million children were laboring on farms, on city streets, and in mills, mines, factories, and stores. The work of social reformers and a nationwide campaign by National Child Labor Committee photographer Lewis W. Hine to chronicle and publicize the abuses led to calls for reform. In 1916, the Keating-Owen Act limited the number of hours children could work and prohibited interstate sale of merchandise produced by child labor, but the Supreme Court ruled the act unconstitutional just nine months later.
Kinograms // Wikimedia Commons
1921: The Battle of Blair Mountain pits miners against the police
The disparaging term “redneck” can be traced to 1921 when 10,000 West Virginia coal miners rose up against mining companies, managers, and their allies in government after decades of abuses in what was the largest uprising in labor history and the most significant armed insurrection since the Civil War. Tying red bandanas around their necks in a show of unity, the miners faced off against thousands of heavily armed company agents, scab workers, law enforcement officers, and military personnel who confronted the workers with heavy machine guns and, eventually, the only aerial bombardment of American civilians in U.S. history.
At least 100 people died and 1 million rounds of ammunition were fired before the rebellion was put down, but the efforts of the miners would lead to some immediate improvement in conditions and, more importantly, a larger voice during FDR’s future New Deal negotiations.
Jack Delano // Wikimedia Commons
1925: Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters is formed
Shortly after the Civil War, George Pullman revolutionized travel with luxurious railroad sleeping cars, each of which came with a personal attendant called a Pullman Car porter. Consisting entirely of black men—originally recently freed slaves—the position was considered prestigious in the African American community, but the reality was grueling work, long hours, low pay, and daily indignities and mistreatment. In 1925, after 12 years of struggle, the Pullman Porters formed their own union, becoming the first black labor union in history to force a powerful corporation to the negotiating table, marking a triumph of both labor rights and civil rights.
Andrew J. Russell // Wikimedia Commons
1926: The Railway Labor Act is passed
After decades of widespread, public, and often violent labor strikes—which were commonly put down by force with the aid of government troops—President Calvin Coolidge compelled unions and railroad bosses to agree on a different means of conflict resolution. In 1926, the Railway Labor Act substituted strikes for bargaining, mediation, and arbitration, and gave both unions and railroad companies the opportunity and responsibility to negotiate before resorting to strikes. It was the first federal law that guaranteed workers the right to organize, unionize, and choose their own leaders without company interference.
Wikimedia Commons
1931: Davis-Bacon Act regulates wages
By 1931, the Great Depression was raging; the masses were desperate for work and employers found it easy to offer take-it-or-leave-it wage ultimatums. The Davis-Bacon Act required private contractors on all significant public-works construction projects to pay workers the “prevailing wage.” Those wages generally corresponded with union wages, and the standard now covers one in five construction projects and one in four construction workers at any given time.
Kheel Center // Flickr
1932: Norris-LaGuardia Act eliminates injunctions
In 1932, labor made major gains when the Norris-LaGuardia Act prevented federal courts from issuing injunctions to stop peaceful union strikes and protests, which had long hurt their ability to organize. It also protected workers from being fired for joining a union or from being forced to sign yellow-dog contracts, which demanded a vow not to join a union.
Kheel Center // Flickr
1933: Frances Perkins named secretary of labor
History was made in 1933 when Frances Perkins became the first woman ever to serve in a presidential Cabinet position—but the milestone was literally forged in fire. Twenty-two years earlier, Perkins was in New York City, having tea in Washington Square, when sirens and growing commotion compelled her to join a gathering crowd outside the towering inferno of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, where she watched helplessly as 47 workers, mostly young women, made the agonizing choice to jump to their deaths instead of burning alive. She later called the catastrophe “the day the New Deal was born.”
The Library of Congress // Flickr
1933: The labor movement has one of its own in Washington
Frances Perkins is a towering figure in American labor, having dedicated her life and career to the common worker and the downtrodden in general. When FDR asked Perkins to join his Cabinet, the woman who would become the principal architect of the New Deal made it clear that she would only agree if Roosevelt backed her priorities, which the president promised he would. Those priorities, according to the Frances Perkins Center, were an amalgamation of the ideals the labor movement had pursued for generations: “a 40-hour work week, a minimum wage, unemployment compensation, worker’s compensation, abolition of child labor, direct federal aid to the states for unemployment relief, Social Security, a revitalized federal employment service, and universal health insurance.”
Kheel Center // Flickr
1935: The National Labor Relations Act becomes law
The National Labor Relations Act legitimized, enfranchised, and vindicated the workers’ rights movement more than any provision that had come before. The culmination of decades of union struggle, the act guaranteed the rights of private-sector workers to unionize, engage in collective bargaining for higher wages and better conditions, and, if necessary, to strike. It remains the foundation of modern American labor law.
Sheldon Dick // Getty Images
1937: Auto workers win GM sit-down strike
At 8 p.m. on the night before Christmas Eve in 1936, autoworkers in Flint, Mich., took over one—and later, several—major GM factories, locking themselves in, refusing to work, and bringing production to a standstill. The company tried to freeze and starve them out, and the courts deemed the strike illegal, but the workers refused to budge. The governor also refused to send in the National Guard. In February 1937, after 44 days of dramatic stalemate, GM—arguably the most powerful and politically influential company in the world—capitulated to most of the workers’ demands, which included a fair minimum wage scale, protections against injury for assembly line workers, a grievance system, and the recognition of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union.
Social Security Online // Wikimedia Commons
1938: FDR signs Fair Labor Standards Act
The crowning achievement of the American union movement came in 1938 with the signing of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which guaranteed a minimum wage, an eight-hour workday, a 40-hour workweek, and time-and-a-half overtime. It also mandated that minors under 18 be barred from certain hazardous work and prevented children under 16 from working in mines or manufacturing, or in any job during school hours. The act ushered American labor into the modern era, gave 700,000 Americans an immediate raise, and continues to serve as the basic foundation of workers’ rights and protections in the United States.
National Musuem of the U.S. Navy // Wikimedia Commons
1941: FDR Forms Fair Employment Practice Commmission
In 1941, the Fair Employment Practice Commission (FEPC) was assembled to enforce an executive order from President Roosevelt that barred employment discrimination based on race, national origin, color, or creed in defense or government industries that received federal funding. FEPC served as the teeth of the executive order, as the commission was authorized to investigate complaints of discrimination and take action against offending companies or organizations.
Abbie Rowe // Wikimedia Commons
1962: Kennedy signs Executive Order 10988
On Jan. 17, 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order that for the first time gave federal employees the right to unionize and engage in collective bargaining. Although private-sector employees had enjoyed these basic rights for decades, the moment was a milestone for federal workers.
The U.S. National Archives // Flickr
1963: Kennedy signs the Equal Pay Act
The women’s rights movement and the labor movement ran parallel to each other and often intertwined from the very beginning. In 1963, the two movements achieved a mutual milestone when JFK signed the Equal Pay Act. An amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Equal Pay Act banned pay disparity for equal work based on gender.
Cecil Stoughton, White House Press Office (WHPO) // Wikimedia Commons
1964: Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act
Although the 1964 Civil Rights Act mandated sweeping social reforms that were by no means limited to labor, union-backed workers’ rights campaigns were central to the civil rights movement—Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in Memphis while supporting a strike by sanitation workers. The landmark civil rights legislation, in part, banned workplace discrimination based on race, gender, religion, color, or national origin.
Kheel Center // Flickr
1967: Johnson signs the Age Discrimination in Employment Act
Organized labor continued its run of success in 1967 with the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. It prevented hiring discrimination based on age and protected workers over 40 or those collecting age-related federal benefits from termination or forced retirement. The act basically extended to older workers the rights associated with the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The U.S. National Archives // Flickr
1970: Nixon signs the Occupational Safety and Health Act
From black lung and mine collapses to farming accidents and factory fires, American workers were driven to unionize first and foremost for their own safety, health, and wellbeing, which were often afterthoughts for the companies that used their labor. The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) required employers to protect their workers from toxic substances, mechanical dangers, unsanitary conditions, excessive heat and cold, and other known physical hazards. The legislation created OSHA to inspect, investigate, and enforce the measure.
The U.S. National Archives
1974: Ford signs the Employee Retirement and Security Income Act
A central thesis of the workers’ rights movement is that a lifetime of labor should guarantee a stable retirement. In 1974, the Employee Retirement and Security Income Act protected workers enrolled in private-industry pension plans by setting minimum standards for how those plans are managed. The legislation required companies to disclose information about the plans to their employees and also put fiduciary responsibility on the people or organizations in charge of their assets.
Canva
1988: Congress passes the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act
Union workers long lived with the knowledge that a decision could be made to close their auto plant or coal mine without them knowing that their next paycheck would be their last. In 1988, however, Congress signed the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act without President Ronald Reagan’s signature. The act required most companies with more than 100 workers to give 60-days advance written notice if mass layoffs or plant closings were imminent.
Executive Office of the President of the United States // Wikimedia Commons
1990: Bush signs the Americans With Disabilities Act
The Americans With Disabilities Act amended the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include workers with disabilities. It also required employers to make reasonable accommodations in terms of accessibility and other special needs.
Canva
1993: Clinton signs the Family and Medical Leave Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act required employers to allow their workers to take off 12 job-protected workweeks in a year for things like the birth or adoption of a child, a serious illness, or to care for a seriously ill child or spouse. There are also extended considerations involving military families. Unlike in most wealthy Western countries, however, the act does not mandate paid maternity or paternity leave, which means the time off is guaranteed, but uncompensated.
Chuck Kennedy // Official White House Photo
2009: Obama signs the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
The 2009 amendment to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, was so-named for the plaintiff in a Supreme Court case that spurred the legislation. Prior to 2009, the mandated 180-day statute of limitations for a worker to file an equal-pay lawsuit began when the employer made the initial discriminatory pay decision, meaning that if a woman found out she was being paid less than a man for equal work six months after she agreed to her salary, it was too late for her to file suit. The 2009 legislation reset the statute of limitations with every discriminatory paycheck received.
It’s well-documented that the surest, and often best, return on investments comes from playing the long game. But between stocks and real estate, which is the stronger bet?
To find out, financial planning firm Wealth Enhancement Group analyzed data from academic research, Standard and Poor’s, and Nareit to see how real estate compares to stocks as an investment.
Data going back to 1870 shows the well-established power of real estate as a powerful “long-run investment.” From 1870-2015, and after adjusting for inflation, real estate produced an average annual return of 7.05%, compared to 6.89% for equities. These findings, published in the 2019 issue of The Quarterly Journal of Economics, illustrate that stocks can deviate as much as 22% from their average, while housing only spreads out 10%. That’s because despite having comparable returns, stocks are inherently more volatile due to following the whims of the business cycle.
Real estate has inherent benefits, from unlocking cash flow and offering tax breaks to building equity and protecting investors from inflation. Investments here also help to diversify a portfolio, whether via physical properties or a real estate investment trust. Investors can track markets with standard resources that include the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, which tracks residential real estate prices; the Nareit U.S. Real Estate Index, which gathers data on the real estate investment trust, or REIT, industry; and the S&P 500, which tracks the stocks of 500 of the largest companies in the U.S.
High interest rates and a competitive market dampened the flurry of real-estate investments made in the last four years. The rise in interest rates equates to a bigger borrowing cost for investors, which can spell big reductions in profit margins. That, combined with the risk of high vacancies, difficult tenants, or hidden structural problems, can make real estate investing a less attractive option—especially for first-time investors.
Keep reading to learn more about whether real estate is a good investment today and how it stacks up against the stock market.
Wealth Enhancement Group
Stocks and housing have both done well
REITs can offer investors the stability of real estate returns without bidding wars or hefty down payments. A hybrid model of stocks and real estate, REITs allow the average person to invest in businesses that finance or own income-generating properties.
REITs delivered slightly better returns than the S&P 500 over the past 20-, 25-, and 50-year blocks. However, in the short term—the last 10 years, for instance—stocks outperformed REITs with a 12% return versus 9.5%, according to data compiled by The Motley Fool investor publication.
Whether a new normal is emerging that stocks will continue to offer higher REITs remains to be seen.
This year, the S&P 500 reached an all-time high, courtesy of investor enthusiasm in speculative tech such as artificial intelligence. However, just seven tech companies, dubbed “The Magnificent 7,” are responsible for an outsized amount of the S&P’s returns last year, creating worry that there may be a tech bubble.
While indexes keep a pulse on investment performance, they don’t always tell the whole story. The Case-Shiller Index only measures housing prices, for example, which leaves out rental income (profit) or maintenance costs (loss) when calculating the return on residential real estate investment.
Wealth Enhancement Group
Housing returns have been strong globally too
Like its American peers, the global real estate market in industrialized nations offers comparable returns to the international stock market.
Over the long term, returns on stocks in industrialized nations is 7%, including dividends, and 7.2% in global real estate, including rental income some investors receive from properties. Investing internationally may have more risk for American buyers, who are less likely to know local rules and regulations in foreign countries; however, global markets may offer opportunities for a higher return. For instance, Portugal’s real estate market is booming due to international visitors deciding to move there for a better quality of life. Portugal’s housing offers a 6.3% return in the long term, versus only 4.3% for its stock market.
For those with deep enough pockets to stay in, investing in housing will almost always bear out as long as the buyer has enough equity to manage unforeseen expenses and wait out vacancies or slumps in the market. Real estate promises to appreciate over the long term, offers an opportunity to collect rent for income, and allows investors to leverage borrowed capital to increase additional returns on investment.
Above all, though, the diversification of assets is the surest way to guarantee a strong return on investments. Spreading investments across different assets increases potential returns and mitigates risk.
Story editing by Nicole Caldwell. Copy editing by Paris Close. Photo selection by Lacy Kerrick.
This story originally appeared on Wealth Enhancement Group and was produced and
distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
In today’s digital climate, consuming sports has never been easier. Thanks to a plethora of streaming sites, alternative broadcasts, and advancements to home entertainment systems, the average fan has myriad options to watch and learn about their favorite teams at the touch of a button—all without ever having to leave the couch.
As a result, more and more sports venues have committed to improving and modernizing their facilities and fan experiences to compete with at-home audiences. Consider using mobile ticketing and parking passes, self-service kiosks for entry and ordering food, enhanced video boards, and jumbotrons that supply data analytics and high-definition replays. These innovations and upgrades are meant to draw more revenue and attract various sponsored partners. They also deliver unique and convenient in-person experiences that rival and outmatch traditional ways of enjoying games.
In Los Angeles, the Rams and Chargers’ SoFi Stadium has become the gold standard for football venues. It’s an architectural wonder with closer views, enhanced hospitality, and a translucent roof that cools the stadium’s internal temperature.
The Texas Rangers’ ballpark, Globe Life Field, added field-level suites and lounges that resemble the look and feel of a sports bar. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Clippers are building a new arena (in addition to retail space, team offices, and an outdoor public plaza) that will seat 18,000 people and feature a fan section called The Wall, which will regulate attire and rooting interest.
It’s no longer acceptable to operate with old-school facilities and technology. Just look at Commanders Field (formerly FedExField), home of the Washington Commanders, which has faced criticism for its faulty barriers, leaking ceilings, poor food options, and long lines. Understandably, the team has been attempting to find a new location to build a state-of-the-art stadium and keep up with the demand for high-end amenities.
As more organizations audit their stadiums and arenas and keep up with technological innovations, Uniqode compiled a list of the latest tech advancements to coax—and keep—fans inside venues.
Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register // Getty Images
Just Walk Out technology
After successfully installing its first cashierless grocery store in 2020, Amazon has continued to put its tracking technology into practice.
In 2023, the Seahawks incorporated Just Walk Out technology at various merchandise stores throughout Lumen Field, allowing fans to purchase items with a swipe and scan of their palms.
The radio-frequency identification system, which involves overhead cameras and computer vision, is a substitute for cashiers and eliminates long lines.
RFID is now found in a handful of stadiums and arenas nationwide. These stores have already curbed checkout wait times, eliminated theft, and freed up workers to assist shoppers, according to Jon Jenkins, vice president of Just Walk Out tech.
Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox // Getty Images
Self-serve kiosks
In the same vein as Amazon’s self-scanning technology, self-serve kiosks have become a more integrated part of professional stadiums and arenas over the last few years. Some of these function as top-tier vending machines with canned beers and nonalcoholic drinks, shuffling lines quicker with virtual bartenders capable of spinning cocktails and mixed drinks.
The kiosks extend past beverages, as many college and professional venues have started using them to scan printed and digital tickets for more efficient entrance. It’s an effort to cut down lines and limit the more tedious aspects of in-person attendance, and it’s led various competing kiosk brands to provide their specific conveniences.
Kyle Rivas // Getty Images
Mobile ordering
Is there anything worse than navigating the concourse for food and alcohol and subsequently missing a go-ahead home run, clutch double play, or diving catch?
Within the last few years, more stadiums have eliminated those worries thanks to contactless mobile ordering. Fans can select food and drink items online on their phones to be delivered right to their seats. Nearly half of consumers said mobile app ordering would influence them to make more restaurant purchases, according to a 2020 study at PYMNTS. Another study showed a 22% increase in order size.
Many venues, including Yankee Stadium, have taken notice and now offer personalized deliveries in certain sections and established mobile order pick-up zones throughout the ballpark.
Darrian Traynor // Getty Images
QR codes at seats
Need to remember a player’s name? Want to look up an opponent’s statistics at halftime? The team at Digital Seat Media has you covered.
Thus far, the company has added seat tags to more than 50 venues—including two NFL stadiums—with QR codes to promote more engagement with the product on the field. After scanning the code, fans can access augmented reality features, look up rosters and scores, participate in sponsorship integrations, and answer fan polls on the mobile platform.
Boris Streubel/Getty Images for DFL // Getty Images
Real-time data analytics and generative AI
As more venues look to reinvigorate the in-stadium experience, some have started using generative artificial intelligence and real-time data analytics. Though not used widely yet, generative AI tools can create new content—text, imagery, or music—in conjunction with the game, providing updates, instant replays, and location-based dining suggestions
Last year, the Masters golf tournament even began including AI score projections in its mobile app. Real-time data is streamlining various stadium pitfalls, allowing operation managers to monitor staffing issues at busy food spots, adjust parking flows, and alert custodians to dirty or damaged bathrooms. The data also helps with security measures. Open up an app at a venue like the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, and report safety issues or belligerent fans to help better target disruptions and preserve an enjoyable experience.
Story editing by Nicole Caldwell. Copy editing by Paris Close. Photo selection by Lacy Kerrick.
This story originally appeared on Uniqode and was produced and
distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
Inflation has cooled substantially, but Americans are still feeling the strain of sky-high prices. Consumers have to spend more on the same products, from the grocery store to the gas pump, than ever before.
Increased import costs are part of the problem. The U.S. is the largest goods importer in the world, bringing in $3.2 trillion in 2022. Import costs rose dramatically in 2021 and 2022 due to shipping constraints, world events, and other supply chain interruptions and cost pressures. At the June 2022 peak, import costs for all commodities were up 18.6% compared to January 2020.
While import costs have since fallen most months—helping to lower inflation—they remain nearly 12% above what they were in 2020. And beginning in 2024, import costs began to rise again, with January seeing the highest one-month increase since March 2022.
Machinery Partner used Bureau of Labor Statistics data to identify the soaring import costs that have translated to higher costs for Americans. Imports in a few industries have had an outsized impact, helping drive some of the overall spikes. Crop production, primary metal manufacturing, petroleum and coal product manufacturing, and oil and gas extraction were the worst offenders, with costs for each industry remaining at least 20% above 2020.
Machinery Partner
Imports related to crops, oil, and metals are keeping costs up
At the mid-2022 peak, import costs related to oil, gas, petroleum, and coal products had the highest increases, doubling their pre-pandemic costs. Oil prices went up globally as leaders anticipated supply disruptions from the conflict in Ukraine. The U.S. and other allied countries put limits on Russian revenues from oil sales through a price cap of oil, gas, and coal from the country, which was enacted in 2022.
This activity around the world’s second-largest oil producer pushed prices up throughout the market and intensified fluctuations in crude oil prices. Previously, the U.S. had imported hundreds of thousands of oil barrels from Russia per day, making the country a leading source of U.S. oil. In turn, the ban affected costs in the U.S. beyond what occurred in the global economy.
Americans felt this at the pump—with gasoline prices surging 60% for consumers year-over-year in June 2022 and remaining elevated to this day—but also throughout the economy, as the entire supply chain has dealt with higher gas, oil, and coal prices.
Some of the pressure from petroleum and oil has shifted to new industries: crop production and primary metal manufacturing. In each of these sectors, import costs in January were up about 40% from 2020.
Primary metal manufacturing experienced record import price growth in 2021, which continued into early 2022. The subsequent monthly and yearly drops have not been substantial enough to bring costs down to pre-COVID levels. Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting shows that increasing alumina and aluminum production prices had the most significant influence on primary metal import prices. Aluminum is widely used in consumer products, from cars and parts to canned beverages, which in turn inflated rapidly.
Aluminum was in short supply in early 2022 after high energy costs—i.e., gas—led to production cuts in Europe, driving aluminum prices to a 13-year high. The U.S. also imposes tariffs on aluminum imports, which were implemented in 2018 to cut down on overcapacity and promote U.S. aluminum production. Suppliers, including Canada, Mexico, and European Union countries, have exemptions, but the tax still adds cost to imports.
U.S. agricultural imports have expanded in recent decades, with most products coming from Canada, Mexico, the EU, and South America. Common agricultural imports include fruits and vegetables—especially those that are tropical or out-of-season—as well as nuts, coffee, spices, and beverages. Turmoil with Russia was again a large contributor to cost increases in agricultural trade, alongside extreme weather events and disruptions in the supply chain. Americans felt these price hikes directly at the grocery store.
The U.S. imports significantly more than it exports, and added costs to those imports are felt far beyond its ports. If import prices continue to rise, overall inflation would likely follow, pushing already high prices even further for American consumers.
Story editing by Shannon Luders-Manuel. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn.
This story originally appeared on Machinery Partner and was produced and
distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
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