Labor strikes in US rise to 23-year high in 2023

ISTANBUL

Labor strikes in the US jumped in 2023 to their highest level in 23 years, according to data released Wednesday by the Labor Department.

There were 33 strikes last year that included 458,900 workers in major work stoppages, according to the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This resulted in 16.7 million days of work lost due to the number and length of the strikes.

The figure is dramatically up from 127,000 workers on strike in 2022 which resulted in 2.2 million days of work lost.

The figures for 2023 are the highest since the year 2000, when there were 39 major strikes, which resulted in a total of 20.4 million days of work lost.

"The lowest annual total of major work stoppages was 5 in 2009 and the highest was 470 in 1952," said the Bureau of Labor Statistics.