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Title 29, LaborRelease 119-102

§2 Collection, Collation, and Reports of Labor Statistics

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

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, under the Secretary of Labor, must collect, combine, and report labor and production statistics at least once each year, or more often if needed. The Secretary can use other parts of the department, reorganize or join statistical work, ask other government agencies for their data, and publish the results in whatever form he thinks best. At least once each month the Bureau must publish employment numbers showing how many people are employed, total wages paid, and total hours worked for Federal, state, and local government workers and for main industries: manufacturing; mining, quarrying, and crude petroleum; building construction; agriculture and lumbering; transportation, communication, and utilities; and retail and wholesale trade, plus any other industries the Secretary adds. The data must cover the whole country and be broken down by States, Federal Reserve districts, or smaller areas. The Secretary may make agreements with other government offices and send Labor Department agents to help collect the statistics.

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

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102