The Secretary of Labor is the Cabinet official who runs the U.S. Department of Labor and protects workers' interests; in APUSH, the role matters most during the Great Depression, when Frances Perkins (the first woman in the Cabinet) helped design New Deal programs like Social Security.
The Secretary of Labor is a member of the President's Cabinet who oversees the Department of Labor, the federal agency responsible for wage earners, job seekers, and retirees. For most of the early 20th century it was a fairly quiet post. The Great Depression changed that. With roughly a quarter of the workforce unemployed, labor policy moved to the center of national politics, and the Secretary of Labor became one of the most consequential jobs in Washington.
The name to know is Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945 and the first woman ever to serve in a presidential Cabinet. Perkins was a Progressive-era reformer (she witnessed the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in 1911) who brought that reform agenda into the federal government. She chaired the committee that drafted the Social Security Act and pushed for unemployment insurance, a federal minimum wage, and limits on child labor. In CED terms, she's a human example of KC-7.1.III, where policymakers responded to mass unemployment by transforming the U.S. into a limited welfare state.
This term lives in Topic 7.9 (The Great Depression) in Unit 7 and supports learning objective APUSH 7.9.A, which asks you to explain the causes of the Great Depression and its effects on the economy. The Secretary of Labor matters because the position shows how the federal response actually happened. The CED's essential knowledge (KC-7.1.III) says the 1930s redefined modern American liberalism by building a limited welfare state. Perkins's Labor Department is where much of that redefinition was drafted. The role also hits the Politics and Power theme and gives you a clean continuity argument, since Perkins carried Progressive Era goals (workplace safety, wage and hour laws) into the New Deal twenty years later.
Keep studying APUSH Unit 7
Social Security Act (Unit 7)
Perkins chaired the Committee on Economic Security that drafted the Social Security Act of 1935. If an essay asks who turned the idea of a welfare state into actual law, the Labor Department is your answer.
New Deal (Unit 7)
The Secretary of Labor was a chief architect of New Deal labor policy, from unemployment relief to the federal minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Perkins makes the New Deal feel less like an abstract program list and more like a set of choices made by real reformers.
Wagner Act (Unit 7)
The Wagner Act (1935) guaranteed workers the right to unionize and bargain collectively. It fits the same pro-labor turn in federal policy that the Secretary of Labor represented, even though the act created a separate agency (the NLRB) to enforce it.
Progressivism (Unit 7)
Perkins started as a Progressive reformer pushing workplace safety after the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Her career is a ready-made continuity argument from Topic 7.4 reform movements to Topic 7.9 and 7.10 New Deal policy.
You won't see a multiple-choice question that just asks you to define "Secretary of Labor." Instead, the term shows up as supporting evidence. Frances Perkins is a classic specific example for FRQs and DBQs on the New Deal, the growth of federal power, or women's changing political roles in the 1930s. No released FRQ has used the term verbatim, but it's exactly the kind of named, specific evidence that earns the evidence point on a DBQ about how the government responded to the Great Depression (APUSH 7.9.A). It's especially strong for continuity-and-change arguments linking Progressive Era reform to the New Deal welfare state.
The Secretary of Labor runs the Department of Labor, a Cabinet department handling wages, hours, safety, and employment programs. The NLRB is a separate independent agency created by the Wagner Act in 1935 to enforce workers' rights to unionize and to referee disputes between unions and employers. Easy way to keep them straight: the Labor Department sets worker protections, while the NLRB polices union elections and unfair labor practices.
The Secretary of Labor is the Cabinet official in charge of the Department of Labor, responsible for the welfare of workers, job seekers, and retirees.
Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, was the first woman to serve in a presidential Cabinet.
Perkins chaired the committee that drafted the Social Security Act, making the Labor Department central to building the limited welfare state described in KC-7.1.III.
The role connects the Progressive Era to the New Deal, since Perkins carried reform goals like workplace safety and wage laws from the 1910s into 1930s federal policy.
On the exam, use the Secretary of Labor as specific evidence for how policymakers responded to mass unemployment during the Great Depression (APUSH 7.9.A).
It's the Cabinet position that heads the U.S. Department of Labor and oversees policies affecting wage earners, job seekers, and retirees. In APUSH, it matters most in Topic 7.9, when the Great Depression made labor policy central to the federal government's response.
Frances Perkins, who served under FDR from 1933 to 1945. She was the first woman in a presidential Cabinet and a chief architect of the Social Security Act of 1935.
Mostly yes, in terms of design. Perkins chaired the Committee on Economic Security that drafted the Social Security Act, though Congress passed it and FDR signed it into law in 1935. On an essay, credit Perkins for shaping it, not single-handedly creating it.
The Secretary of Labor runs a Cabinet department that handles wages, hours, and worker welfare. The NLRB is an independent agency created by the Wagner Act in 1935 to protect union organizing and resolve labor disputes. They're separate institutions doing different jobs.
She's specific, nameable evidence for two big arguments: how the New Deal built a limited welfare state (KC-7.1.III) and how Progressive Era reform continued into the 1930s. She also works as evidence for women's expanding role in government.