REC/GOV/020. Labor, Department of.

The Department of Labor (DOL) assists workers with income support between jobs, protection on the job, training programs, assistance in searching for jobs and information on the economy, wages, and the workplace. DOL provides employers with workplace data and labor market information, recruitment assistance and programs to help maintain employee skills. The Department started as a “bureau of labor statistics” and it continues to fulfill this function as an arm of the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics by collecting, analyzing and reporting workforce data. The Bureau began in 1873 but disappeared by 1875. The legislature reconstituted it in 1885 and in 1901 added the Factory Inspector. In 1915 legislation combined this post into a Department of Labor and Factory Inspection and in 1950, the agency was first called by its current name, the Department of Labor. This record group contains records of the Commissioner, 1970-1988; records of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, 1923-1987 (some of which are restricted); records of the United States Employment Service, 1917-1919; administrative and meeting records of the various boards under the Minimum Wage Division, 1936-58; and files of the Department’s own Employment Service Division, 1937-1941.