United States Department of Labor
Seal of the Department of Labor
Logo of the Department of Labor
Agency overview
Formed	March 4, 1913
Headquarters	Frances Perkins Building 1849 C Street, NW Washington, DC 38°53′33.13″N 77°0′51.94″W / 38.8925361°N 77.0144278°W / 38.8925361; -77.0144278
Employees	17,347 (2004)
Annual budget	$59.7 billion (2004)
Agency executives	Hilda Solis, Secretary Seth David Harris, Deputy Secretary
Website
www.dol.gov

The United States Department of Labor is a Cabinet department of the United States government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and some economic statistics. Many U.S. states also have such departments. The department is headed by the United States Secretary of Labor. Hilda Solis is the current secretary. Seth Harris is the current deputy secretary.

The department is housed in the Frances Perkins Building, which gained its name in 1980 when President Jimmy Carter renamed the facility in honor of Frances Perkins, the Secretary of Labor from 1933–1945 and the first female cabinet secretary in U.S. history.^[1]

[edit] History

This section requires expansion.

The U.S. Congress first established a Bureau of Labor in 1888 under the Department of the Interior. Later, the Bureau of Labor became an independent Department of Labor but lacked executive rank. It became a bureau again within the Department of Commerce and Labor, which was established February 15, 1903. President William Howard Taft signed the March 4, 1913 bill establishing the Department of Labor as a Cabinet-level Department.

President Lyndon Johnson asked Congress to consider the idea of reuniting Commerce and Labor.^{[citation needed]} 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 was instrumental in promoting racial diversity in unions.^[2]

[edit] Frances Perkins Building

This section requires expansion.

The Frances Perkins Building, the Department of Labor headquarters in Washington, D.C.

On October 18, 1974, construction was completed on the New Department of Labor Building (NDOL). Employees begin occupying offices in February 1975. ^[3] On April 10, 1980, the building was renamed the "Frances Perkins Building."^[3]

[edit] Operating units

[edit] Related legislation

[edit] See also

• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
• National Labor Relations Board
• Ticket to Work

[edit] External links

Find more about United States Department of Labor on Wikipedia's sister projects:

Quotations from Wikiquote
Source texts from Wikisource
Images and media from Commons
News stories from Wikinews

• United States Department of Labor Official Website
• Labor Certification Tracker: A Labor Certification tracker that lets users share and discuss the details of their labor applications, reducing guesswork and making it easier to estimate processing times.
• Immigration links A list of frequently used links for employment-based immigrants.
• Department Of Labor Meeting Notices and Rule Changes from The Federal Register RSS Feed
• Proposed and finalized federal regulations from the United States Department of Labor
• Jobs and Occupations in highest demand in USA: 2006 to 2016

[edit] References

v • d • e Agencies under the United States Department of Labor Secretary of Labor Deputy Secretary of Labor Administrative Review Board · Benefits Review Board · Bureau of International Labor Affairs · Bureau of Labor Statistics · Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives · Employees' Compensation Appeals Board · Employment Standards Administration · Employment and Training Administration · Mine Safety and Health Administration · Occupational Safety and Health Administration · Employee Benefits Security Administration · Veterans' Employment and Training Service · Women's Bureau