Happy Labor Day!

Labor Day by the numbers

By Belle Reynoso, CNN Library

updated 10:09 AM EDT, Sun September 2, 2012

155.2 million people 16 years and older participate in the labor force today.
(CNN) -- Labor Day is a holiday many American workers eagerly anticipate -- a three-day weekend, and a respite from work to relax and celebrate with friends and family. As you're calculating how many bags of buns you need to go with that jumbo pack of hot dogs at your barbecue (they never seem to match up), here are some other Labor Day numbers to contemplate.

33 million: Americans who plan to travel at least 50 miles over Labor Day weekend this year, according to AAA.

14 cents: Average increase in the price of a gallon of gas since AAA's 2011 Labor Day forecast.

155.2 million: Number of people 16 years and older who are in the labor force.

85: Percentage of full-time workers 18 to 64 covered by health care insurance during all or part of 2010.

39.7 million: Number of people who the Department of Labor helped through the Employment and Training Administration programs.

58: Percent who think it's OK to wear white after Labor Day according to a nonscientific poll.

685,000: Number of workers who were placed into new jobs through the Workforce Investment Act Adult and Dislocated Worker programs.

1.674 million: Veterans who were helped by the Department's Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) in 2010.

473,700: Number of veteran workers entering into employment.

25.3 minutes: Average commute time in 2010. Maryland has the longest commute in the country, with an average time of 31.8 minutes. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 American Community Survey, Table R0801)

3.2 million: Number of workers whose commutes were 90 or more minutes each day in 2010.

$47,715: 2010 real median full-time earnings for males.

$36,931: 2010 real median full-time earnings for females.

29.2: Percent difference in men's and women's earnings.

11.8: Percentage of workers who were members of a union in 2011.

30: Percentage reduction of overall family summer travel from May through September.

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Labor Day Parade, Union Square, New York, 1882
In 1882, Matthew Maguire, a machinist, first proposed the holiday while serving as secretary of the CLU (Central Labor Union) of New York. Others argue that it was first proposed by Peter J. McGuire of the American Federation of Labor in May 1882, after witnessing the annual labor festival held in Toronto, Canada.

Oregon was the first state to make it a holiday in 1887. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894, thirty states officially celebrated Labor Day. Following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland reconciled with Reyes [clarification needed], leader of the labor movement. Fearing further conflict, the United States Congress unanimously voted to approve rush legislation that made Labor Day a national holiday.