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 Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 ...

. 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 wor ...

, wage and hour standards, unemployment benefits, 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 ot ...

, who reports directly to the president of the United States 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 * Filing ...

. The purpose of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote, and develop the well-being of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees 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. Julie Su is currently serving as acting secretary since March 11, 2023, following the resignation of Marty Walsh. The department's headquarters is housed in the Frances Perkins Building, 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 t ...

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 mana ...

. 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 signed the March 4, 1913, bill (the last day of his presidency), establishing the Department of Labor as its own

-level department.

William B. Wilson William Bauchop Wilson (April 2, 1862 – May 25, 1934) was an American labor leader and progressive politician, who immigrated as a child with his family from Lanarkshire, Scotland. After having worked as a child and adult in the coal mines of ...

was appointed as the first Secretary of Labor on March 5, 1913, by President Wilson. As part of this action, the United States Conciliation Service was created as an agency within the department; its purpose was to provide

mediation Mediation is a structured, interactive process where an impartial third party neutral assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through the use of specialized communication and negotiation techniques. All participants in mediation are ...

for labor disputes. In October 1919, Secretary Wilson chaired the first meeting of the International Labour Organization even though the U.S. was not yet a member. In September 1916, the Federal Employees' Compensation Act 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 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. The passage of the Taft–Hartley Act in 1947 led to the end of the U.S. Conciliation Service, which was reconstituted outside the department as a new independent agency, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. During the

John F. Kennedy Administration John F. Kennedy's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 35th president of the United States, began with Inauguration of John F. Kennedy, his inauguration on January 20, 1961, and ended with Assassination of John F. Kennedy, hi ...

, 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 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 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 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 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 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 program ...

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, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis 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 Ray Jefferson is an American government official and retired military officer who served as assistant secretary of labor for the Veterans' Employment and Training Service. He graduated from the United States Military Academy and served in the Unit ...

, 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. He was succeeded on September 30, 2019, by Eugene Scalia. Scalia served until the beginning of the Biden administration on January 20, 2021. Marty Walsh was confirmed as secretary on March 22, 2021. He resigned on March 11, 2023 and was succeeded by deputy secretary Julie Su who is currently serving in an acting position.

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

* Administrative Review Board (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 t ...

(BRB) * Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training (BAT) *

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 La ...

(ILAB) *

(BLS) * Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiative (CFOI) * Employee Benefits Security Administration (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 (MSHA) * Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) * Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ) * 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 Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs (OCIA) * Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) * 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 enfo ...

(OLMS) * Office of Public Affairs (OPA) * Office of Public Liaison (OPL) *

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 dut ...

(OSEC) ** Office of the Deputy Secretary * Office of the Solicitor (SOL) * Office of Unemployment Insurance Modernization (OUIM) * Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) * Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation ** PBGC Office of the Inspector General * Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) * Wage and Hour Division (WHD) * Women's Bureau (WB)

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 locate ...

* Job Corps

Relevant legislation

* 1926: Railway Labor Act * 1947: Taft–Hartley Act PL 80-101 * 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 "oppr ...

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:

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 s ...

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 D ...

PL 87-415 * 1962:

Public Welfare Amendments In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

PL 87-543 * 1963: Amendments to National Defense Education Act PL 88-210 * 1964:

Economic Opportunity Act The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 () authorized the formation of local Community Action Agencies as part of the War on Poverty. These agencies are directly regulated by the federal government. "It is the purpose of The Economic Opportunity Ac ...

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 * 1973: Comprehensive Employment and Training Act PL 93-203 * 1973: Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act PL 93-112 * 1974:

PL 93-259 * 1974:

Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act The Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (or VEVRAA, ) is an Act of Congress originally about Vietnam-era veterans, disabled veterans, and any other veterans who served active duty time in a war event that qualifies for a camp ...

PL 92-540 * 1974: Employee Retirement Income Security Act 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 reven ...

( Earned Income Tax Credit) PL 94-12, 164 * 1976: Overhaul of vocational education 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 Center Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

s) PL 94-401 * 1977:

PL 95-151 * 1977:

Federal Mine Safety and Health Act The Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Public Law 95-164) amended the Coal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969. It can be found in the United States Code under Title 30, Mineral Lands and Mining, Chapter 22, Mine Safety and Health. The S ...

* 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 mathe ...

PL 95-523 * 1981:

Budget Reconciliation Act A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environment ...

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 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'' (film) * Omnibus (broadcast), a compilation of Radio or TV episodes * Omnibus (UK TV series), ''Omnibus'' (UK TV series), an arts-based documentary programme * Omnibus (U.S. ...

PL 101-508 * 1993: Family and Medical Leave Act 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 small ...

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 * 2014: Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

Notes and references

External links

*
Department of Labor
on

USAspending.gov ttp://www.usaspending.gov USASpending.govis a database of spending by the United States federal government. History Around the time of the Act's passage, OMB Watch, a government watchdog group, was developing a site that would do essentially eve ...

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 feder ...

''
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 govern ...

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