§ 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.

§ 2. Collection, collation, and reports of labor statistics

• (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.

§ 2b. Studies of productivity and labor costs in industries

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor is authorized and directed to make continuing studies of productivity and labor costs in the manufacturing, mining, transportation, distribution, and other industries.

§ 3. Commissioner; appointment and tenure of office; compensation

The Bureau of Labor Statistics shall be under the charge of a Commissioner of Labor Statistics, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; he shall hold his office for four years, unless sooner removed, and shall receive a salary.

§ 4. Duties of Commissioner in general

It shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Labor Statistics to ascertain the effect of the customs laws, and the effect thereon of the state of the currency, in the United States, on the agricultural industry, especially as to its effect on mortgage indebtedness of farmers. He shall also establish a system of reports by which, at intervals of not less than two years, he can report the general condition, so far as production is concerned, of the leading industries of the country. He is also specially charged to investigate the causes of, and facts relating to, all controversies and disputes between employers and employees as they may occur, and which may tend to interfere with the welfare of the people of the different States. He shall also obtain such information upon the various subjects committed to him as he may deem desirable from different foreign nations, and what, if any, convict-made goods are imported into this country, and if so from whence.

§ 5. Bulletin as to labor conditions

The Commissioner of Labor Statistics is authorized to prepare and publish a bulletin of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as to the condition of labor in this and other countries, condensations of State and foreign labor reports, facts as to conditions of employment, and such other facts as may be deemed of value to the industrial interests of the country.

§ 6. Annual and special reports to President and Congress

The Commissioner of Labor Statistics shall annually make a report in writing to the President and Congress, of the information collected and collated by him, and containing such recommendations as he may deem calculated to promote the efficiency of the department. He is also authorized to make special reports on particular subjects whenever required to do so by the President or either House of Congress, or when he shall think the subjects in his charge require it. He shall, on or before the 15th day of March in each year, make a report in detail to Congress of all moneys expended under his direction during the preceding fiscal year.

§ 8. Unemployment data relating to Americans of Spanish origin or descent

The Department of Labor, in cooperation with the Department of Commerce, shall develop methods for improving and expanding the collection, analysis, and publication of unemployment data relating to Americans of Spanish origin or descent.

§ 9. Authorization of special studies, compilations, and transcripts on request; cost

The Department of Labor is authorized, within the discretion of the Secretary of Labor, upon the written request of any person, to make special statistical studies relating to employment, hours of work, wages, and other conditions of employment; to prepare from its records special statistical compilations; and to furnish transcripts of its studies, tables, and other records, upon the payment of the actual cost of such work by the person requesting it.

§ 9a. Credit of receipts

All moneys hereinafter 1 1 So in original. Probably should be “hereafter”. received by the Department of Labor in payment of the cost of such work shall be deposited to the credit of the appropriation of that bureau, service, office, division, or other agency of the Department of Labor which supervised such work, and may be used, in the discretion of the Secretary of Labor, and notwithstanding any other provision of law, for the ordinary expenses of such agency and/or to secure the special services of persons who are neither officers nor employees of the United States.

§ 9b. Rules and regulations

The Secretary of Labor shall prescribe rules and regulations for the enforcement of sections 9 and 9a of this title.