United States Secretary of Labor | |
---|---|
United States Department of Labor | |
Style | Madam Secretary (informal) The Honorable (formal) |
Member of | Cabinet |
Reports to | President of the United States |
Seat | Frances Perkins Building, Washington, D.C. |
Appointer | The President of the United States with Senate advice and consent |
Term length | No fixed term |
Constituting instrument | 29 U.S.C. § 551 |
Precursor | Secretary of Commerce and Labor |
Formation | March 4, 1913 |
First holder | William B. Wilson |
Succession | Eleventh [1] |
Deputy | Deputy Secretary of Labor |
Salary | Executive Schedule, Level I |
Website | dol.gov |
The United States secretary of labor is a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and as the head of the United States Department of Labor, controls the department, and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all other issues involving any form of business-person controversies.
Formerly, there was a Department of Commerce and Labor. That department split into two in 1913. The Department of Commerce is headed by the secretary of commerce.
Secretary of labor is a Level I position in the Executive Schedule, [2] thus earning a salary of $221,400 as of January 2021. [3]
Julie Su has been serving as acting secretary since the resignation of Marty Walsh on March 11, 2023.
Democratic (13) Republican (16)
Status
Acting Secretary of Labor
No. | Portrait | Name | State of residence | Took office | Left office | President(s) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | William Wilson | Pennsylvania | March 6, 1913 | March 4, 1921 | Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921) | ||
2 | James J. Davis | Pennsylvania | March 5, 1921 | November 30, 1930 | Warren G. Harding (1921–1923) | ||
Calvin Coolidge (1923–1929) | |||||||
Herbert Hoover (1929–1933) | |||||||
3 | William N. Doak | Virginia | December 9, 1930 | March 4, 1933 | |||
4 | Frances Perkins | New York | March 4, 1933 | June 30, 1945 | Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945) | ||
Harry S. Truman (1945–1953) | |||||||
5 | Lewis B. Schwellenbach | Washington | July 1, 1945 | June 10, 1948 | |||
6 | Maurice J. Tobin | Massachusetts | August 13, 1948 | January 20, 1953 | |||
7 | Martin Durkin | Maryland | January 21, 1953 | September 10, 1953 | Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961) | ||
8 | James P. Mitchell | New Jersey | October 9, 1953 | January 20, 1961 | |||
9 | Arthur Goldberg | Illinois | January 21, 1961 | September 20, 1962 | John F. Kennedy (1961–1963) | ||
10 | W. Willard Wirtz | Illinois | September 25, 1962 | January 20, 1969 | |||
Lyndon B. Johnson (1963–1969) | |||||||
11 | George P. Shultz | Illinois | January 22, 1969 | July 1, 1970 | Richard Nixon (1969–1974) | ||
12 | James Hodgson | California | July 2, 1970 | February 1, 1973 | |||
13 | Peter J. Brennan | New York | February 2, 1973 | March 15, 1975 | |||
Gerald Ford (1974–1977) | |||||||
14 | John Dunlop | Massachusetts | March 18, 1975 | January 31, 1976 | |||
15 | William Usery Jr. | Georgia | February 10, 1976 | January 20, 1977 | |||
16 | Ray Marshall | Texas | January 27, 1977 | January 20, 1981 | Jimmy Carter (1977–1981) | ||
17 | Raymond J. Donovan | New Jersey | February 4, 1981 | March 15, 1985 | Ronald Reagan (1981–1989) | ||
18 | Bill Brock | Tennessee | April 29, 1985 | October 31, 1987 | |||
19 | Ann Dore McLaughlin | District of Columbia | December 17, 1987 | January 20, 1989 | |||
20 | Elizabeth Dole | Kansas | January 25, 1989 | November 23, 1990 | George H. W. Bush (1989–1993) | ||
21 | Lynn Martin | Illinois | February 22, 1991 | January 20, 1993 | |||
22 | Robert Reich | Massachusetts | January 22, 1993 | January 20, 1997 | Bill Clinton (1993–2001) | ||
23 | Alexis Herman | Alabama | May 1, 1997 | January 20, 2001 | |||
24 | Elaine Chao | Kentucky | January 29, 2001 | January 20, 2009 | George W. Bush (2001–2009) | ||
– | Howard Radzely | Pennsylvania | January 20, 2009 | February 2, 2009 | Barack Obama (2009–2017) | ||
– | Ed Hugler | Pennsylvania | February 2, 2009 | February 24, 2009 | |||
25 | Hilda Solis | California | February 24, 2009 | January 22, 2013 | |||
– | Seth Harris | New York | January 22, 2013 | July 23, 2013 | |||
26 | Tom Perez | Maryland | July 23, 2013 | January 20, 2017 | |||
– | Ed Hugler | Pennsylvania | January 20, 2017 | April 27, 2017 | Donald Trump (2017–2021) | ||
27 | Alexander Acosta | Florida | April 28, 2017 | July 19, 2019 | |||
– | Patrick Pizzella | Virginia | July 20, 2019 | September 30, 2019 | |||
28 | Eugene Scalia | Virginia | September 30, 2019 | January 20, 2021 | |||
– | Al Stewart | Virginia | January 20, 2021 | March 23, 2021 | Joe Biden (2021–2025) | ||
29 | Marty Walsh | Massachusetts | March 23, 2021 | March 11, 2023 | |||
– | Julie Su | California | March 11, 2023 | Incumbent |
The line of succession for the Secretary of Labor is as follows: [4]
If none of the above officials are available to serve as Acting Secretary of Labor, the Designated Secretarial Designee assumes interim operational control over the Department, except the Secretary's non-delegable responsibilities.
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