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 f ...

. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing

occupational safety and health Occupational safety and health (OSH), also commonly referred to as occupational health and safety (OHS), occupational health, or occupational safety, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at wo ...

, 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 The United States Secretary of Labor is a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and as the head of the United States Department of Labor, controls the department, and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all o ...

, 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 Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

and is a member of the president's

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

. 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 po ...

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 Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the 4th United States secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of th ...

, the Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945.

History

In 1884, the U.S. Congress first established a

Bureau of Labor Statistics The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics and serves as a principal agency of ...

with the Bureau of Labor Act, to collect information about labor and employment. This bureau was under the

Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

. 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

-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 ...

, 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, 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 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 o ...

became the department's first female solicitor of the department. In 2010, a local of the

American Federation of Government Employees The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is an American labor union representing over 670,000 employees of the federal government, about 5,000 employees of the District of Columbia, and a few hundred private sector employees, mo ...

stated their unhappiness that a longstanding

flextime Flextime (also spelled flexitime ( BE) or flex-time) is a flexible hours schedule that allows workers to alter their workday and decide/adjust their start and finish times. In contrast to traditional work arrangements that require employees to w ...

program reduced under the George W. Bush administration had not been restored under the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

. 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 The Partnership for Public Service is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in Washington, D.C. whose mission is to inspire a new generation of civil servants and to transform the way government works. The Partnership's most visible progra ...

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 Hilda Lucia Solis (; born October 20, 1957) is an American politician and a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for the 1st district. Solis previously served as the 25th United States Secretary of Labor from 2009 to 2013, as par ...

was named the chair of the 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 VETS resigned due to his involvement in a contracting scandal. In March 2013, the department began commemorating its centennial. In July 2013,

Tom Perez Thomas Edward Perez (born October 7, 1961) is an American politician and attorney who served as the Chair of the Democratic National Committee from February 2017 until January 2021. Perez was previously Assistant Attorney General for Civil Right ...

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 Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American sex offender and financier. Epstein, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, began his professional life by teaching at the Dalton School in Manhattan, des ...

. He was succeeded on September 30, 2019, by

Eugene Scalia Eugene Scalia (born August 14, 1963) is an American attorney who is a partner at Gibson Dunn. He served as the United States secretary of labor during the final 16 months of the Donald Trump administration. Scalia previously served one year as ...

. Scalia served until the beginning of the Biden administration on January 20, 2021. The present

Secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a ...

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 (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 The Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the detainees held by the United States in Camp Delta in the United States Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The purpose of the Board is to re ...

(ARB) *

Benefits Review Board The Department of Labor's Benefits Review Board was created in 1972, by the United States Congress, to review and issue decisions on appeals of workers’ compensation claims arising under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act and ...

(BRB) *

Bureau of International Labor Affairs The Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) is an operating unit of the United States Department of Labor which manages the department's international responsibilities. According to its mission statement: ''“The Bureau of International L ...

(ILAB) *

(BLS) * Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiative (CFOI) *

Employee Benefits Security Administration The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is an agency of the United States Department of Labor responsible for administering, regulating and enforcing the provisions of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ...

(EBSA) *

Employees' Compensation Appeals Board The Employees' Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB) was created in 1946 by statute to hear appeals taken from determinations and awards under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act with respect to claims of federal employees injured in the course of ...

(ECAB) *

Ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

for the

Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) was passed by Congress in 2000 and is designed to compensate individuals who worked in nuclear weapons production and as a result of occupational exposures contracted certa ...

(EEOMBD) * Employment and Training Administration (ETA) *

Mine Safety and Health Administration The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) () is a large agency of the United States Department of Labor which administers the provisions of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act) to enforce compliance with mandatory safe ...

(MSHA) *

Occupational Safety and Health Administration The Occupational Safety and Health Administration'' (OSHA ) is a large regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. Congress established the agen ...

(OSHA) * Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) * Office of Inspector General (OIG) *

Office of Labor-Management Standards The Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor that promotes standards for democracy and fiscal responsibility in labor organizations. It was formed in 1959. Activities OLMS administers and enfor ...

(OLMS) *

(OWCP) * Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) *

Wage and Hour Division The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the United States Department of Labor is the federal office responsible for enforcing federal labor laws. The Division was formed with the enactment of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The Wage and Hour m ...

(WHD) * 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 Liaison The White House Office of Public Engagement is a unit of the White House Office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Under the administration of President Barack Obama, it was called the White House Office of Publ ...

(OPL) * Office of Unemployment Insurance Modernization (OUIM) * Office of the Solicitor (SOL) *

Office of the Secretary An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific ...

(OSEC) ** Office of the Deputy Secretary

Other

Wirtz Labor Library The Wirtz Labor Library is the library of the U.S. Department of Labor. It provides Department of Labor employees and members of the general public with access to both historically significant and current resources pertaining to labor. It is locat ...

Job Corps Job Corps is a program administered by the United States Department of Labor that offers free education and vocational training to young men and women ages 16 to 24. Mission and purpose Job Corps' mission is to help young people ages 16 throug ...

Related legislation

* 1926:

Railway Labor Act The Railway Labor Act is a United States federal law on US labor law that governs labor relations in the railroad and airline industries. The Act, enacted in 1926 and amended in 1934 and 1936, seeks to substitute bargaining, arbitration, and media ...

* 1949:

Fair Labor Standards Amendment The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) is a United States labor law that creates the right to a minimum wage, and "time-and-a-half" overtime pay when people work over forty hours a week. It also prohibits employment of minors in "oppres ...

PL 81-393 * 1953: Small Business Act PL 83-163 * 1954:

Internal Revenue Code The Internal Revenue Code (IRC), formally the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, is the domestic portion of federal statutory tax law in the United States, published in various volumes of the United States Statutes at Large, and separately as Title 2 ...

PL 83-591 * 1955:

PL 84-381 * 1958:

Small Business Administration extension Small may refer to: Science and technology * SMALL, an ALGOL-like programming language * Small (anatomy), the lumbar region of the back * ''Small'' (journal), a nano-science publication * <small>, an HTML element that defines smaller text ...

PL 85-536 * 1961:

PL 87-30 * 1961:

Area Redevelopment Act Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while ''surface area'' refers to the area of an open su ...

PL 87-27 * 1962:

Manpower Development and Training Act The term ''New Frontier'' was used by Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in his acceptance speech in the 1960 United States presidential election to the Democratic National Convention at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as the ...

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 A vocation () is an occupation to which a person is especially drawn or for which they are suited, trained or qualified. People can be given information about a new occupation through student orientation. Though now often used in non-religious co ...

amended PL 89-333 * 1965:

Executive Order 11246 Executive Order 11246, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 24, 1965, established requirements for non-discriminatory practices in hiring and employment on the part of U.S. government contractors. It "prohibits federal contractors a ...

* 1965: McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act * 1966:

PL 89-601 * 1970:

Occupational Safety and Health Act The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 is a US labor law governing the federal law of occupational health and safety in the private sector and federal government in the United States. It was enacted by Congress in 1970 and was signed by P ...

* 1973:

Comprehensive Employment and Training Act The Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA, ) was a United States federal law enacted by the Congress, and signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973 to train workers and provide them with jobs in the public service. ...

PL 93-203 * 1973: Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act PL 93-112 * 1974:

PL 93-259 * 1974: Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act PL 92-540 * 1974:

Employee Retirement Income Security Act The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) (, codified in part at ) is a U.S. federal tax and labor law that establishes minimum standards for pension plans in private industry. It contains rules on the federal income tax e ...

of 1974 (ERISA) Pub.L. 93-406 * 1975:

Revenue Adjustment Act In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive revenue ...

( Earned Income Tax Credit) PL 94-12, 164 * 1976: Overhaul of

vocational education Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an i ...

programs PL 94-482 * 1976:

Social Security Act Amendments Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

(Aid to Day Care Centers) PL 94-401 * 1977:

PL 95-151 * 1977: Federal Mine Safety and Health Act * 1978:

Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act Full may refer to: * People with the surname Full, including: ** Mr. Full (given name unknown), acting Governor of German Cameroon, 1913 to 1914 * A property in the mathematical field of topology; see Full set * A property of functors in the math ...

PL 95-523 * 1981: Budget Reconciliation Act PL 97-35 * 1982:

Job Training Partnership Act The Job Training Partnership Act of 1982 (JTPA, , , et seq.) was a United States federal law passed October 13, 1982, by Congress with regulations promulgated by the United States Department of Labor during the Ronald Reagan administration. The law ...

PL 97-300 * 1983:

Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Workers Protection Act The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (AWPA or MSPA) ( public lawbr>97-470 (January 14, 1983), codified at 29 U.S.C. §§ 1801-1872, is the main federal law that protects farm workers in the United States and repealed and rep ...

PL 99-603 * 1988: Family Support Act PL 100-485 * 1988:

Employee Polygraph Protection Act The Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 (EPPA) is a United States federal law that generally prevents employers from using polygraph (lie detector) tests, either for pre-employment screening or during the course of employment, with certain ex ...

* 1989:

PL 101-157 * 1990:

Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act Omnibus may refer to: Film and television * ''Omnibus'' (film) * Omnibus (broadcast), a compilation of Radio or TV episodes * ''Omnibus'' (UK TV series), an arts-based documentary programme * ''Omnibus'' (U.S. TV series), an educational progr ...

PL 101-508 * 1993:

Family and Medical Leave Act The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) is a United States labor law requiring covered employers to provide employees with job-protected, unpaid leave for qualified medical and family reasons. The FMLA was a major part of President Bill C ...

PL 103-3 * 1993:

Omnibus Budget Reconciliation and Bankruptcy Act Omnibus may refer to: Film and television * ''Omnibus'' (film) * Omnibus (broadcast), a compilation of Radio or TV episodes * ''Omnibus'' (UK TV series), an arts-based documentary programme * ''Omnibus'' (U.S. TV series), an educational progr ...

PL 103-66 * 1996:

Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 The Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 () is a United States federal law. It was sponsored by Rep. Bill Archer ( R- TX) and it was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The stated intent of the bill is: "To provide tax relief for smal ...

PL 104-188 * 1996: Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act PL 104-193 * 1996:

Veterans Employment Opportunities Act A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that has ...

PL 105-339 * 1998:

Workforce Investment Act of 1998 The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA, ) was a United States federal law that was repealed and replaced by the 2014 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Purpose The Workforce Investment Act is a federal act that "provides workforce investm ...

* 2014:

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) is a United States public law that replaced the previous Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) as the primary federal workforce development legislation to bring about increased coordination amon ...

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 USAspending.gov
U.S. Department of Labor
in the ''

Federal Register The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every weekday, except on fede ...

''
Department of Labor
reports and recommendations from the

Government Accountability Office The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch government agency that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the supreme audit institution of the federal gover ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:United States Department Of Labor 1913 establishments in Washington, D.C. Government agencies established in 1913

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...