North Carolina Commissioner of Labor
The Commissioner of Labor is a statewide elected office in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The commissioner is a constitutional officer who leads the state's Department of Labor. North Carolina's general statues provide the commissioner with wide-ranging regulatory and enforcement powers to tend to the welfare of the state's workforce. They also sit on the North Carolina Council of State. The incumbent is Josh Dobson, who has served since January 2021. The original Bureau of Labor Statistics, the historical precursor of the present Department of Labor, was created by the North Carolina General Assembly in 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. The office was elevated to constitutional status in 1944. History of the office Following lobbying by the Knights of Labor, the Bureau of Labor Statistics was established by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1887 as a sub-agency of the Department of Agriculture, Immigration, and Statistics. The bureau was led by a commissioner, who was to be appointed by the