The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the

U.S. federal government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fed ...

. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards,

unemployment benefits Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a comp ...

, reemployment services, and occasionally, economic statistics. It is headed by the Secretary of Labor, who reports directly to the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

and is a member of the president's Cabinet. The purpose of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote, and develop the well being of the wage earners, job seekers, and

retiree A pensioner is a person who receives a pension, most commonly because of retirement from the workforce. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom (along with OAP, initialism of old-age pensioner), Ireland and Australia where someone of p ...

s of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights. In carrying out this mission, the Department of Labor administers and enforces more than 180 federal laws and thousands of federal regulations. These mandates and the regulations that implement them cover many workplace activities for about 10 million employers and 125 million workers.

Marty Walsh Martin Joseph Walsh (born April 10, 1967) is an American politician and former union official. He has been the 29th United States Secretary of Labor since March 23, 2021. A Democrat, he previously served as the 54th mayor of Boston from 2014, ...

is the current secretary, having been confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on March 22, 2021. The department's headquarters is housed in the

Frances Perkins Building The Frances Perkins Building is the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the United States Department of Labor. It is located at 200 Constitution Avenue NW and sits above Interstate 395. The structure is named after Frances Perkins, the U.S. Sec ...

, named in honor of Frances Perkins, the Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945.

History

In 1884, the U.S. Congress first established a Bureau of Labor Statistics with the Bureau of Labor Act, to collect information about labor and employment. This bureau was under the Department of the Interior. The Bureau started collecting economic data in 1884, and published their first report in 1886. Later, in 1888, the Bureau of Labor became an independent Department of Labor, but lacked executive rank. In February 1903, it became a bureau again when the

Department of Commerce and Labor The United States Department of Commerce and Labor was a short-lived Cabinet department of the United States government, which was concerned with fostering and supervising big business. Origins and establishment Calls in the United States for ...

was established. United States President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

signed the March 4, 1913, bill (the last day of his presidency), establishing the Department of Labor as a Cabinet-level department. William B. Wilson was appointed as the first Secretary of Labor on March 5, 1913, by President Wilson. In October 1919, Secretary Wilson chaired the first meeting of the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

even though the U.S. was not yet a member. In September 1916, the

Federal Employees' Compensation Act The Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA), is a United States federal law, enacted on September 7, 1916. Sponsored by Sen. John W. Kern (D) of Indiana and Rep. Daniel J. McGillicuddy (D) of Maine, it established compensation to federal civil ...

introduced benefits to workers who are injured or contract illnesses in the workplace. The act established an agency responsible for federal workers’ compensation, which was transferred to the Labor Department in the 1940s and has become known as the

Office of Workers' Compensation Programs The Office of Workers' Compensation Programs administers four major disability compensation programs which provide wage replacement benefits, medical treatment, vocational rehabilitation and other benefits to certain workers or their dependents wh ...

. Frances Perkins, the first female cabinet member, was appointed to be Secretary of Labor by President Roosevelt on March 4, 1933. Perkins served for 12 years, and became the longest-serving Secretary of Labor. During the

John F. Kennedy Administration John F. Kennedy's tenure as the 35th president of the United States, began with his inauguration on January 20, 1961, and ended with his assassination on November 22, 1963. A Democrat from Massachusetts, he took office following the 1960 p ...

, planning was undertaken to consolidate most of the department's offices, then scattered around more than 20 locations. In the mid‑1960s, construction on the "New Labor Building" began and construction was finished in 1975. In 1980, it was named in honor of Frances Perkins.

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

asked Congress to consider the idea of reuniting Commerce and Labor. He argued that the two departments had similar goals and that they would have more efficient channels of communication in a single department. However, Congress never acted on it. In the 1970s, following the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

, the Labor Department under Secretary

George P. Shultz George Pratt Shultz (; December 13, 1920February 6, 2021) was an American economist, businessman, diplomat and statesman. He served in various positions under two different Republican presidents and is one of the only two persons to have held fou ...

made a concerted effort to promote racial diversity in unions. In 1978, the Department of Labor created the Philip Arnow Award, intended to recognize outstanding career employees such as the

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

Philip Arnow. In the same year,

Carin Clauss Carin Ann Clauss (born January 24, 1939) was the first female United States Solicitor of Labor. Early life Carin Ann Clauss was born on January 24, 1939, in Knoxville, Tennessee. She attended Vassar College, graduating in 1960 with a Bachelor ...

became the department's first female solicitor of the department. In 2010, a local of the American Federation of Government Employees stated their unhappiness that a longstanding flextime program reduced under the George W. Bush administration had not been restored under the Obama administration. Department officials said the program was modern and fair and that it was part of ongoing contract negotiations with the local. In August 2010, the Partnership for Public Service ranked the Department of Labor 23rd out of 31 large agencies in its annual "Best Places to Work in the Federal Government" list. In December 2010, then–Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis was named the chair of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, of which Labor has been a member since its beginnings in 1987. In July 2011, Ray Jefferson, Assistant Secretary for Veterans' Employment and Training Service, VETS resigned due to his involvement in a contracting scandal. In March 2013, the department began commemorating its centennial. In July 2013, Tom Perez was confirmed as Secretary of Labor. According to remarks by Perez at his swearing-in ceremony, "Boiled down to its essence, the Department of Labor is the department of opportunity." In April 2017, Alexander Acosta was confirmed as the new Secretary of Labor. In July 2019, Acosta resigned due to a scandal involving his role in the plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein. He was succeeded on September 30, 2019, by Eugene Scalia. Scalia served until the beginning of the Biden administration on January 20, 2021. The present United States Secretary of Labor, Secretary is

Freedom of Information Act processing performance

In the latest Center for Effective Government analysis of 15 federal agencies which receive the most Freedom of Information Act (United States), Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, published in 2015 (using 2012 and 2013 data, the most recent years available), the Labor Department earned a D by scoring 63 out of a possible 100 points, i.e., did not earn a satisfactory overall grade.Making the Grade: Access to Information Scorecard 2015
March 2015, 80 pages, Center for Effective Government, retrieved 21 March 2016

Agencies, boards, offices, programs, library and corporation of the department

* Administrative Review Board (Labor), Administrative Review Board (ARB) * Benefits Review Board (BRB) * Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) * Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) * Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiative (CFOI) * Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) * Employees' Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB) * Ombudsman for the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOMBD) * Employment and Training Administration (ETA) * Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) * Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) * OFCCP, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) * U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Inspector General (OIG) * The Office of Labor-Management Standards, Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) *

(OWCP) * Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) * Wage and Hour Division (WHD) * United States Women's Bureau, Women's Bureau (WB) * Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation ** PBGC Office of the Inspector General * Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ) * Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs (OCIA) * Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management (OASAM) ** Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) * Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy (OASP) * Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) * Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) * Office of Public Affairs (OPA) * Office of Public Engagement (Labor), Office of Public Liaison (OPL) * Office of Unemployment Insurance Modernization (OUIM) * United States Solicitor of Labor, Office of the Solicitor (SOL) * United States Secretary of Labor, Office of the Secretary (OSEC) **United States Deputy Secretary of Labor, Office of the Deputy Secretary

Other

* Wirtz Labor Library * Job Corps

Related legislation

* 1926: Railway Labor Act * 1949: Fair Labor Standards Amendment PL 81-393 * 1953: Small Business Administration, Small Business Act PL 83-163 * 1954: Internal Revenue Code PL 83-591 * 1955: Fair Labor Standards Amendment PL 84-381 * 1958: Small Business Administration extension PL 85-536 * 1961: Fair Labor Standards Amendment PL 87-30 * 1961: Area Redevelopment Act PL 87-27 * 1962: Manpower Development and Training Act PL 87-415 * 1962: Public Welfare Amendments PL 87-543 * 1963: Amendments to National Defense Education Act PL 88-210 * 1964: Economic Opportunity Act PL 88-452 * 1965: Vocational Rehabilitation Act amended PL 89-333 * 1965: Executive Order 11246 * 1965: McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act * 1966: Fair Labor Standards Amendment PL 89-601 * 1970: Occupational Safety and Health Act * 1973: Comprehensive Employment and Training Act PL 93-203 * 1973: Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act PL 93-112 * 1974: Fair Labor Standards Amendment PL 93-259 * 1974: Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act PL 92-540 * 1974: Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) Pub.L. 93-406 * 1975: Revenue Adjustment Act (Earned Income Tax Credit) PL 94-12, 164 * 1976: Overhaul of vocational education programs PL 94-482 * 1976: Social Security Act Amendments (Aid to Day Care Centers) PL 94-401 * 1977: Fair Labor Standards Amendment PL 95-151 * 1977: Federal Mine Safety Act, Federal Mine Safety and Health Act * 1978: Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act PL 95-523 * 1981: Budget Reconciliation Act PL 97-35 * 1982: Job Training Partnership Act PL 97-300 * 1983: Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Workers Protection Act PL 99-603 * 1988: Family Support Act PL 100-485 * 1988: Employee Polygraph Protection Act * 1989: Fair Labor Standards Amendment PL 101-157 * 1990: Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act PL 101-508 * 1993: Family and Medical Leave Act PL 103-3 * 1993: Omnibus Budget Reconciliation and Bankruptcy Act PL 103-66 * 1996: Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 PL 104-188 * 1996: Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act PL 104-193 * 1996: Veterans Employment Opportunities Act PL 105-339 * 1998: Workforce Investment Act of 1998 * 2014: Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

Notes and references

Bibliography

* Goldberg, Joseph P., and William T. Moye. ''The first hundred years of the Bureau of Labor Statistics'' (US Department of Labor, 1985
online
* Laughlin, Kathleen A. ''Women's work and public policy: A history of the Women's Bureau, US Department of Labor, 1945-1970'' (Northeastern UP, 2000)
online
** Boris, Eileen. "Women's Work and Public Policy: a History of the Women's Bureau, US Department of Labor, 1945-1970." ''NWSA Journal'' 14#1 (2002), pp. 201-20
online
* * Ritchie, Melinda N. "Back-channel representation: a study of the strategic communication of senators with the us Department of Labor." ''Journal of Politics'' 80.1 (2018): 240-253.

External links

*
Department of Labor
on Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, USAspending.gov
U.S. Department of Labor
in the ''Federal Register''
Department of Labor
reports and recommendations from the Government Accountability Office {{DEFAULTSORT:United States Department Of Labor United States Department of Labor, 1913 establishments in Washington, D.C. Government agencies established in 1913 United States federal executive departments, Labor