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November 1984, Vol. 107, No.
11
BLS and the economy:
a centennial timetable
Celebration of the BLS Centennial affords an opportunity to review the growth and development of the Bureau's work in relation to changes in the American economy and society. Shifts in Bureau leadership, changes in objectives, and the evolution of programs following the Bureau's inception are narrated in a study to be published by the Bureau in 1985. In what follows, pertinent facts and dates are presented in a Timetable of History, a format of a long span of years. It is intended to present briefly the historical context in which the Bureau has developed.
The table presents events over the past 100 years under three headings: first, the commissioners and their terms of office, including the presidents who nominated them; second, major activities of the Bureau of Labor Statistics; and third, selected economic and historic milestones.
Among the major themes that emerge from this overview: increasing use of BLS programs in the administration of private and public stabilization programs, such as adjustment of incomes to consumer price changes, allocation of public funds for unemployment assistance, and the regulation of working conditions; the pursuit of economic stability through government intervention; the shift away from government action on the side of employers to a more neutral position in labor-management relations; and the persistence and creativity of collective bargaining in dealing with problems of change.
This excerpt is from an article published in the November 1984 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. The full text of the article is available in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). See How to view a PDF file for more information.
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Developing statistics to meet society's needs.—Oct. 1989.
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