Trump Officially Cancels Labor Day, Orders America Back to Work Midday

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump canceled the remainder of Labor Day on Monday morning and directed the country to resume work immediately, according to a Truth Social post that reached millions of Americans already several hours into the holiday.

“Labor Day is officially canceled. Get back to work, America!” the president wrote. The post followed his long-standing complaint that the United States observes too many non-working holidays, and that closed businesses cost the country and our greatest ally billions of dollars.

The United States currently recognizes 11 federal holidays. Labor Day, observed on the first Monday in September, honors the social and economic achievements of American workers. Banks, post offices, stock exchanges, and most government offices are closed. Many private employers also give the day off, while retail stores and restaurants typically remain open.

Trump has previously argued the calendar has grown crowded. In a June 2025 Truth Social post, he wrote that too many non-working holidays cost the country billions of dollars to keep businesses closed, that workers do not want the days off either, and that the country would soon have a holiday for every working day of the year.

“It must change if we are going to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” he wrote at the time.

A White House official speaking on condition of anonymity said the midday cancellation was an executive communication, not a statute passed by Congress. “The president has been clear that output matters,” the official said. “This many days off is a luxury the American people haven't earned.”

Across the country, the order arrived while families were still at parks, lakes, and backyard grills. In a Cleveland suburb, warehouse supervisor Mark Ellison put down tongs and opened his phone. “I had the burgers halfway done,” Ellison said. “Then the president said the holiday was over. I told the kids to bag the chips. We are heading in.”

In Phoenix, call center manager Denise Ortiz said her team received a group text from regional leadership. “They said if the federal holiday is canceled at the top, we should treat the rest of the day as a regular shift,” Ortiz said. “Half the floor is already back.”

Federal workers and many private employees had planned a full day off. After the post, some supervisors instructed staff to return if they could reach a worksite. Others treated the message as political commentary and left schedules unchanged.

A grocery store manager in Tampa said registers stayed busy either way. “People came in for buns at 8:00 am and came back for printer paper by 9:00 am,” the manager said. “Labor Day or not, they still needed both.”

By late afternoon, office parking lots that had been empty in the morning showed a thin return of cars. A construction foreman in Indianapolis said three of 12 crew members showed up. “The rest are still on the lake,” he said. “The president can cancel the holiday. He cannot cancel the boat rental.”

Economists have long debated the price of a federal holiday. One line of research treats a lost business day in a multi-trillion-dollar economy as a large number on paper.

Other work finds that much of the output is shifted rather than erased, and that hospitality and retail often rise on holidays even as factories slow. Trump’s post treated the remaining hours of the day as recoverable output.

“We already gave them the morning,” said a senior administration aide who declined to be named. “That is more rest than a lot of countries get. The afternoon belongs to America and our greatest ally.”

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