The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. 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 ...

, 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 ...

, who reports directly to the President 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 ...

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 is the current secretary, having been confirmed by the United States Senate 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. ...

, 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 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 m ...

. 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 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 ...

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 The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists o ...

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, 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 f ...

Lyndon B. Johnson 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 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 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 wo ...

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 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 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, d ...

. 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 ...

is Marty Walsh.

Freedom of Information Act processing performance

In the latest

Center for Effective Government The Center for Effective Government, formerly OMB Watch, was a think tank and advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. It was focused on government transparency. Founded in 1983, the organization ceased operations in 2016, folding its work into t ...

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,

, 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 (BRB) * Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) *

(BLS) * Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiative (CFOI) * Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) * Employees' Compensation Appeals Board (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 (EEOMBD) *

Employment and Training Administration The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is part of the U.S. Department of Labor. Its mission is to provide training, employment, labor market information, and income maintenance services. ETA administers federal government job training an ...

(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 agenc ...

(OSHA) * Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) * Office of Inspector General (OIG) * Office of Labor-Management Standards (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 ...

(WHD) * Women's Bureau (WB) *

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is a United States federally chartered corporation created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to encourage the continuation and maintenance of voluntary private defined b ...

** 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 (OPL) * Office of Unemployment Insurance Modernization (OUIM) * Office of the Solicitor (SOL) * Office of the Secretary (OSEC) ** 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 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 26 ...

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 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 ...

* 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: Fair Labor Standards Amendment 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 ...

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

Earned Income Tax Credit The United States federal earned income tax credit or earned income credit (EITC or EIC) is a refundable tax credit for low- to moderate-income working individuals and couples, particularly those with children. The amount of EITC benefit depends ...

) 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 ...

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 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 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 PL 103-66 * 1996: Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 PL 104-188 * 1996:

Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) is a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The bill implemented major changes to ...

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 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 fe ...

''
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 gov ...

{{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 lab ...