BLS Authorizing Statute

THE CODE OF THE LAWS
OF THE

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
TITLE 29 – LABOR
______________________

CHAPTER 1. LABOR STATISTICS
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
Section
1.
2.
2a.
2b.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Design and duties of bureau generally
Collection, collation, and reports of labor statistics
Statistical reports—Collection through local agents—Piece-price basis
Studies of productivity and labor costs in industry
Commissioner—Appointment and tenure of office—Compensation
Duties of commissioner in general
Bulletin as to labor conditions
Annual and special reports to President and Congress
Reports of labor statistics in Hawaii
SPECIAL STATISTICS

9.
9a.
9b.

Special statistical studies upon request—Scope—Cost—Payment
Credit and use of receipts
Rules and regulations
BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

§1. Design and duties of bureau generally
The general design and duties of the Bureau of Labor Statistics shall be to acquire
and diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects
connected with labor, in the most general and comprehensive sense of that word,
and especially upon its relation to capital, the hours of labor, the earnings of
laboring men and women, and the means of promoting their material, social,
intellectual, and moral prosperity.
(June 13, 1888, c. 389, §1, 25 Stat. 182.)

29 USCS §1

LABOR STATISTICS
HISTORY; ANCILLARY LAWS AND DIRECTIVES

Explanatory notes:
The bracketed words are substituted for “There shall be at the seat of
government a Department of Labor, the general design and duties of
which shall be…” Act Feb. 14, 1903, c. 552, §4, 32 Stat. 826, placed the
Department of Labor in the Department of Commerce and Labor. Act
Mar. 18, 1904, c. 716, 33 Stat. 136, changed the name of the Department of
Labor to the Bureau of Labor. Act Mar. 4, 1913, c. 141, §3, 37 Stat. 737,
transferred the Bureau of Labor from the Department of Commerce and
Labor to the Department of Labor and redesignated the Bureau as the
Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Transfer of functions:
1950 REORGANIZATION PLAN No. 6
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Section 1. Transfer of functions to the Secretary. (a) Except as otherwise
provided in subsection (b) of this section, there are hereby transferred to
the Secretary of Labor all functions of all other officers of the Department
of Labor and all functions of all agencies and employees of such
Department.
(b) This section shall not apply to the functions vested by the
Administrative Procedure Act (60 Stat. 237) [See 5 USCS §§551 et seq., 701
et seq., 3105, 33-44, 5362, 7521] in hearing examiners employed by the
Department of Labor.
Sec. 2. Performance of functions of Secretary. The Secretary of Labor
may from time to time make such provisions as he shall deem
appropriate authorizing the performance by any other officer or by any
agency or employee, of the Department of Labor of any function of the
Secretary, including any function transferred to the Secretary by the
provisions of this reorganization plan.
Sec. 3. Administrative Assistant Secretary. There shall be in the
Department of Labor an Administrative Assistant Secretary of Labor,
who shall be appointed, with the approval of the President, by the
Secretary of Labor under the classified civil service, who shall perform
such duties as the Secretary of Labor shall prescribe.
Sec. 4. Incidental transfers. The Secretary of Labor may from time to time
effect such transfers within the Department of Labor of any of the
records, property, personnel and unexpended balances (available or to be
made available) of appropriations, allocations, and other funds of such
Department as he may deem necessary in order to carry out the
provisions of this reorganization plan.

CROSS REFERENCES
Establishment of Department of Labor. 29 USCS §551.

29 USCS §1

LABOR STATISTICS

§2. Collection, collation, and reports of labor statistics
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, under the direction of the Secretary of Labor, shall
collect, collate, and report at least once each year, or oftener if necessary, full and
complete statistics of the conditions of labor and the products and distribution of
the products of the same, and to this end said Secretary shall have power to
employ any or either of the bureaus provided for his department and to
rearrange such statistical work and to distribute or consolidate the same as may
be deemed desirable in the public interests; and said Secretary shall also have
authority to call upon other departments of the Government for statistical data
and results obtained by them; and said Secretary of Labor may collate, arrange,
and publish such statistical information so obtained in such manner as to him
may seem wise.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics shall also collect, collate, report, and publish at
least once each month full and complete statistics of the volume of and changes
in employment, as indicated by the number of persons employed, total wages
paid, and the total hours of employment, in the service of the Federal
government, the States and political subdivisions thereof, and in the following
industries and their principal branches: (1) Manufacturing; (2) mining,
quarrying, and crude petroleum production; (3) building construction; (4)
agriculture and lumbering; (5) transportation, communication, and other public
utilities; (6) the retail and wholesale trades; and such other industries as the
Secretary of Labor may deem it in the public interest to include. Such statistics
shall be reported for all such industries and their principal branches throughout
the United States and also by States and/or Federal reserve districts and by such
smaller geographical subdivisions as the said Secretary may from time to time
prescribe. The said Secretary is authorized to arrange with any Federal, State or
municipal bureau or other governmental agency for the collection of such
statistics in such manner as he may deem satisfactory, and may assign special
agents of the Department of Labor to any such bureau or agency to assist in such
collection.
(Mar. 4, 1913, c. 141, §4, 37 Stat. 737; July 7, 1930, c. 873, 46 Stat. 1019.)
HISTORY; ANCILLARY LAWS AND DIRECTIVES
Amendments:
1930. Act July 7, 1930, added the second paragraph.
Transfer of functions:
Transfer of functions of all other officers, employees and agencies of
Department of Labor to the Secretary by 1950 Reorg. Plan No. 6, see
transfer of functions note to 29 USCS §1.