BLES A Primer

1998A BRIEF HISTORY The need to compile and analyze statistics on labor and employment has long been recognized. In fact, the then Bureau of Labor had a Division of Statistics to handle such function since 1910. In 1933, when the Department of Labor was created, one of its offices was the Division of Labor Statistics. However, in 1941, the Division was transferred to the Bureau of the Census and Statistics. Subsequently, research and statistics were carried by different offices and bureaus within the Department until 1953 when a Report and Analysis Division was established in the newly created National Employment Service to undertake these functions in cooperation with the Bureau of Employment Services. The reorganization in 1957 of the Department of Labor included the establishment of a Labor Statistics Division whose activities were supported by units in the various bureaus. In September 1962, the Division was expanded into the Labor Statistics Service with two divisions: the Surveys and Statistical Standards Division and the Research, Analysis and Publication Division. Eleven years later, with the implementation of...