Attachment G2 - BLS Authorizing Statue (Title 29)

Title 29 USC Sections 1 & 2

The Code of the Laws
of the United States of America

Title 29 - Labor

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, 1899, c389, § 1, 25 Stat. 182.)

§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, the 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.

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, 3344, 5362, 7521] in hearing examiners employed by the Department of Labor.

Sec. 2. Performance of functions of Secretary. The Secretary of Labor many from time to time make sure 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 make 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.