Records of the Office of Employment Security [OES]
(Record Group 183)
1907-68
Table of Contents
- 183.1 ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY
- 183.2 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF EMPLOYMENT SECURITY
1955-68
- 183.3 RECORDS OF THE U.S. EMPLOYMENT SERVICE
1907-49
- 183.4 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION AND ITS
SUCCESSORS 1936-42
Established: In the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), Department of Labor (DOL), by DOL (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management [OASAM]) approval memorandum, April 26, 1982, to consist of the U.S. Employment Service, Unemployment Insurance Service, and Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
Predecessor Agencies:
Of the Office of Employment Security:
Bureau of Employment Security (BES), Social Security Board (SSB), Federal Security Agency (FSA, 1939-46)
BES, Social Security Administration (SSA), FSA (1946-49)
BES, DOL (1949-63)
BES, Manpower Administration (MA, 1963-69)
Of the U.S. Employment Service (USES), OES:
Division of Information, Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, Department of Commerce and Labor (1907-13)
Division of Information, Bureau of Immigration, DOL (1913-15)
(st) USES, Bureau of Immigration, DOL (1915-18)
(1st) USES, DOL (1918-33)
(2d) USES, DOL (1933-39)
(2d) USES, BES, FSA (1939-42)
(2d) USES (field offices only), Employment Office Service Division, Bureau of Placement (USES headquarters functions), War Manpower Commission (WMC), Office for Emergency Management (OEM, 1942-45)
(2d) USES, DOL (1945-48)
(2d) USES, BES, SSA, FSA (1948-49)
(2d) USES, BES, DOL (1949-63)
(2d) USES, BES, MA, DOL (1963-69)
Veterans Employment Service and Farm Labor and Rural Manpower Service, U.S. Training and Employment Service (USTES), MA, DOL (1969-71)
(3d) USES, MA, DOL (1971-75)
(3d) USES, DOL (1975-82)
Of the Unemployment Insurance Service (UIS), OES:
Bureau of Unemployment Compensation (BUC), SSB (1935-39)
BES, SSB, FSA (1939-46)
BES, SSA, FSA (1946-49)
UIS, BES, DOL (1949-63)
UIS, BES, MA, DOL (1963-69)
UIS, MA, DOL (1969-75)
UIS, ETA, DOL (1975-82)
Of the Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance (OTAA), OES:
OTAA, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, DOL (1975-81)
OTAA, ETA (1981-82)
Transfers: To newly created Office of the Associate Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training (OAASET), by DOL (OASAM) approval memorandum, June 10, 1982; to autonomous programmatic unit status by abolishment of OAASET in ETA reorganization authorized by DOL (OASAM) approval memorandum, April 16, 1984.
Functions: Administered unemployment insurance and employment service programs, veterans and farm placement services, and manpower development and training projects. Administered programs under the Trade Adjustment Act of 1974 for the relief and retraining of persons in industries adversely affected by imports.
Abolished: In ETA reorganization authorized by DOL (OASAM) approval memorandum, November 21, 1989.
Successor Agencies: UIS and (3d) USES as ETA autonomous programmatic units (1989- ); OTAA, Office of Work-Based Learning, ETA (1989- ).
Finding Aids: Leo Pascal, comp., "Shelflist of U.S. Employment Service Records, 1915-41," National Archives (Sept. 1943).
Related Records: Records of the Social Security Administration, RG 47.
General Records of the Department of Labor, RG 174. Records of the Bureau of Placement in RG 211, Records of the War Manpower Commission. Records of the Employment and Training Administration, RG 369.
183.2 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF EMPLOYMENT SECURITY
1955-68
History: BES established in SSB, FSA, by Reorganization Plan No.
I of 1939, effective July 1, 1939, consolidating the (2d) USES,
DOL (SEE 183.3), and the Bureau of Unemployment Compensation,
SSB, FSA (SEE 183.4). To newly created Social Security
Administration, FSA, by Reorganization Plan No. II of 1946,
effective July 16, 1946. To DOL by Reorganization Plan No. 2 of
1949, effective August 20, 1949. To Manpower Administration, DOL,
by Secretary's Order 3-63, February 19, 1963. Abolished,
effective March 17, 1969, by Secretary's Order 14-69, March 14,
1969, with functions divided between the UIS (SEE 183.4) and the
Veterans Employment Service and Farm Labor and Rural Manpower
Service, both in the newly established USTES (SEE 183.3).
Textual Records: Administrative and procedural issuances and
directives, 1964-68, with supporting documentation, including
issuances of USES and the Farm Labor Service. General subject files, 1957-61. Reports and studies
compiled by the Region XI field office, Seattle, WA, 1955-64 (in
Seattle).
Related Records: Record copies of publications of the Bureau of
Employment Security in RG 287, Publications of the U.S.
Government. Records of the Unemployment Insurance Service, 1941-82, in RG 369, Records of the
Employment and Training Administration.
183.3 RECORDS OF THE U.S. EMPLOYMENT SERVICE
History: (1st) USES established as Division of Information in the
Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, Department of Commerce
and Labor, by the Immigration Act (34 Stat. 909), February 20,
1907, to distribute immigrants throughout the United States.
Transferred with the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization to
the DOL by the Department of Labor Act (37 Stat. 737), March 4,
1913, and made part of separate Bureau of Immigration. Designated
USES, ca. 1915, and functioned as a general placement agency.
Made an autonomous unit within DOL by department order, January
3, 1918. Abolished pursuant to the Federal Employment Service
(Wagner-Peyser) Act (48 Stat. 113), June 6, 1933, which
established bureau-level (2d) USES within DOL.
(2d) USES transferred to SSB in newly created FSA by
Reorganization Plan No. I of 1939, effective July 1, 1939, and
consolidated with Bureau of Unemployment Compensation to form BES
(SEE 183.2). Transferred from BES to War Manpower Commission
(WMC) in the Office for Emergency Management by EO 9247,
September 17, 1942. USES headquarters functions absorbed by
Bureau of Placement, WMC, with Employment Office Service Division
administering local USES offices. WMC terminated by EO 9617,
September 19, 1945, and USES transferred to DOL as autonomous
bureau. USES restored to BES by act of June 16, 1948 (62 Stat.
443). Transferred with BES to DOL by Reorganization Plan No. 2 of
1949, effective August 20, 1949. Assigned as part of BES to
Manpower Administration by Secretary's Order 3-63, February 19,
1963. Abolished with BES, effective March 17, 1969, by
Secretary's Order 14-69, March 14, 1969. USES' Veterans
Employment Service and Farm Labor and Rural Manpower Service
reconstituted as part of USTES, Manpower Administration.
USTES abolished by Manpower Administration order, December 12,
1971. USTES' employment service components reconstituted in
Manpower Administration as (3d) USES, with the status of an
autonomous programmatic unit. Retained autonomous status in ETA,
successor, by Secretary's Order 14-75, November 12, 1975, to
Manpower Administration. Assigned, with UIS and OTAA, to newly
established OES, ETA, 1982. SEE 183.1.
Textual Records: Historical files relating to the origin,
organization, and operations of (1st) USES and its predecessors,
1907-32, including (in Kansas City) files of the office of the
Federal State Director, Omaha, NE, 1917-19. Subject files,
including conference proceedings, 1933-42. Subject files, with an
index, and miscellaneous records of Washington headquarters
offices, 1942-47. Office files of Director W. Frank Parsons and
other officials, 1933-40. Records of the Veterans Placement
Service, 1931-40. Records of the Farm Placement Service, 1935-40.
Records of the Divisions of Standards and Research, Business
Administration, and Operations, 1933-39. Headquarters and state
employment service policy and procedural issuances, 1933-43.
State employment service plans of operation, with related
correspondence, 1940-41. National Reemployment Service
headquarters correspondence, 1933-39. Records relating to the
Civil Service merit system, 1934-39. Narrative and statistical
labor market area reports, 1940-49. Area office reports of the
War Manpower Commission, 1942-45. Records relating to labor
markets in defense industries, 1941-47.
Related Records: Records of the U.S. Employment Service, 1940-81,
in RG 369, Records of the Employment and Training Administration.
183.4 RECORDS OF THE BUREAU OF UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION AND ITS
SUCCESSORS
1936-42
History: SSB established as an independent agency by the Social
Security Act (49 Stat. 620), August 14, 1935, with Bureau of
Unemployment Compensation established, October 1935, to
administer unemployment insurance programs. SSB assigned to newly
created FSA, and (2d) USES (SEE 183.3) transferred from DOL to
SSB and consolidated with BUC to form BES, by Reorganization Plan
No. I of 1939, effective July 1, 1939. During period of USES
detachment and assignment to WMC and DOL, September 17, 1942-June
16, 1948, sole function of BES was administration of unemployment
compensation programs. Separate UIS not established until
transfer of BES from FSA to DOL by Reorganization Plan No. 2 of
1949, effective August 20, 1949. UIS operational by October 1949.
Assigned as part of BES to Manpower Administration by Secretary's
Order 3-63, February 19, 1963. Became an autonomous programmatic
unit within Manpower Administration upon abolishment of BES,
effective March 17, 1969, by Secretary's Order 14-69, March 14,
1969. Retained autonomous status in ETA, successor, by
Secretary's Order 14-75, November 12, 1975, to Manpower
Administration. Assigned with OTAA and (3d) USES to form OES,
1982. SEE 183.1.
Textual Records: Subject files of the Bureau of Unemployment
Compensation, 1936-39. Unemployment compensation files of the
Bureau of Employment Security, 1939-42.
Related Records: Records of the Unemployment Insurance Service, 1941-82, in
RG 369, Records of the Employment and Training Administration.
Bibliographic note: Web version based on Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States. Compiled by Robert B. Matchette et al. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995.
3 volumes, 2428 pages.
This Web version is updated from time to time to include records processed since 1995.
Blogs
Facebook
Flickr
RSS Feeds
Twitter
YouTube