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Title 29 — LaborRelease 119-73

§2 Collection, collation, and reports of labor statistics

Title 29 › Chapter CHAPTER 1— - LABOR STATISTICS › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS › § 2

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Requires the Bureau of Labor Statistics, led by the Secretary of Labor, to gather, organize, and publish comprehensive facts about work conditions and products at least once a year, and more often if needed. The Secretary can use other bureaus, move or combine statistical work, ask other government departments for their data, and publish the information in whatever form is appropriate. Also requires the Bureau to publish monthly figures on employment levels and changes. Those monthly reports must show the number of people employed, total wages paid, and total hours worked for federal, state, and local government jobs and for major industries (manufacturing; mining, quarrying, and crude oil production; construction; agriculture and lumbering; transportation, communication, and utilities; retail and wholesale trade; and others the Secretary adds). The data must cover the whole United States and be broken down by states, Federal Reserve districts, or smaller areas the Secretary decides. The Secretary may arrange with other government agencies to collect the data and may assign Labor Department agents to help.

Full Legal Text

Title 29, §2

Labor — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

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.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1930—Act July 7, 1930, inserted second par.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Census Data on Women-Owned Businesses; Study and ReportFor provisions requiring Bureaus of Labor Statistics and the Census to include certain data on women-owned businesses in census reports, and requiring a study and report on the most cost effective and accurate means to gather and present such data, see section 501 of Pub. L. 100–533, set out as a note under section 131 of Title 13, Census. Consumer Price Index for Older Americans Pub. L. 100–175, title I, § 191, Nov. 29, 1987, 101 Stat. 967, provided that: “The Secretary of Labor shall, through the Bureau of Labor Statistics, develop, from existing data sources, a reweighted index of consumer prices which reflects the expenditures for consumption by Americans 62 years of age and older. The Secretary shall furnish to the Congress the index within 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act [Nov. 29, 1987]. The Secretary shall include with the index furnished a report which explains the characteristics of the reweighted index, the research necessary to develop and measure accurately the rate of inflation affecting such Americans, and provides estimates of time and cost required for additional activities necessary to carry out the objectives of this section.” Prison Statistics ReportJoint Res.
June 17, 1940, ch. 389, 54 Stat. 401, authorized Bureau of Labor Statistics to furnish a report to Congress before
May 1, 1941, on kind, amount, and value of all goods produced in State and Federal prisons.

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

For

Transfer of Functions

of other officers, employees, and agencies of Department of Labor, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of Labor, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 6 of 1950, §§ 1, 2, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1263, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

29 U.S.C. § 2

Title 29 — Labor

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73