North Carolina Commissioner Of Labor Article Index for
North Carolina
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North Carolina
 

Information About

North Carolina Commissioner Of Labor




The Constitution of North Carolina provides for the election by the people
every four years of a Commissioner of Labor whose term of office runs concurrently
with that of the governor. The commissioner is the administrative head of the
Department of Labor and also serves as a member of the North Carolina Council Of State .
The original “Bureau of Labor Statistics,” the historical precursor of the present
N.C. Department of Labor, was created by the North Carolina General Assembly of 1887, with
provision for appointment by the governor of a “Commissioner of Labor Statistics”
for a two-year term. In 1899 another act was passed providing that the commissioner,
beginning with the general election of 1900, be elected by the people for a four-year
term.
For three decades, the department over which this newly-elected commissioner
presided remained a very small agency of state government with limited duties and
personnel. In 1925, the department employed a total of 15 people. In a general
reorganization of the state’s labor administration functions in 1931, the General
Assembly laid the broad groundwork for the Department of Labor’s subsequent,
gradual development into an agency administering laws and programs affecting a
majority of North Carolina citizens.
Today, the North Carolina Department of Labor is charged by statute with
promoting the “health, safety and general well-being” of the state’s more than three
million working people. The many laws and programs under its jurisdiction affect
virtually every person in the state in one way or another. The General Statutes provide
the commissioner with broad regulatory and enforcement powers with which to
carry out the department’s duties and responsibilities to the people.


LIST OF COMMISSIONERS OF LABOR

  • Wesley N. Jones, 1887-1889

  • John C. Scarborough, 1889-1892

  • William I. Harris, 1892-1893

  • Benjamin R. Lacy, 1893-1897

  • James Y. Hamrick, 1897-1899

  • Benjamin R. Lacy, 1899-1901

  • Henry B. Varner, 1901-1909

  • Mitchell L. Shipman, 1909-1925

  • Franklin D. Grist, 1925-1933

  • Arthur L. Fletcher, 1933-1938

  • Forest H. Shuford, 1938-1954

  • Frank Crane, 1954-1973

  • William C. Creel, 1973-1975

  • Thomas A. Nye, Jr., 1975-1977

  • John C. Brooks, 1977-1993

  • Harry E. Payne, Jr., 1993-2001

  • Cherie K. Berry , 2001-Present



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