BLS Act

119 HR 7804 IH: Better Labor Statistics Act U.S. House of Representatives 2026-03-04 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. I 119th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 7804 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES March 4, 2026 Ms. Pressley (for herself and Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce A BILL To direct the Secretary of Labor to perform additional duties, to modernize certain laws regarding the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Better Labor Statistics Act or the BLS Act . 2. Modernizing duties and terms relating to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (a) Additional duties (1) Labor statistics Section 4 of the Act of March 4, 1913, titled An Act to create a Department of Labor ( 29 U.S.C. 2 ; Chap. 141), is amended— (A) in the first sentence, by striking Secretary of Labor may collate and inserting Secretary of Labor shall collate ; and (B) in the third sentence, by striking Such statistics shall be reported and inserting Such statistics shall be publicly reported, in accordance with the first section of Public Law 94–311 , online by the first Friday of each month, including . (2) Demographics The first section of Public Law 94–311 ( 29 U.S.C. 8 ; 90 Stat. 688) following the resolving clause is amended by striking unemployment data and all that follows and inserting unemployment data relating to individual demographics. In each labor statistics report required by section 4 of the Act of March 4, 1913, entitled An Act to create a Department of Labor ( 29 U.S.C. 2 ; Chap. 141), the Secretary of Labor shall include, at a minimum, data disaggregated by the demographic categories of geography, race, ethnicity, and gender. . (b) Modernizing terms Section 4 of the Act of March 4, 1913, titled An Act to create a Department of Labor ( 29 U.S.C. 2 ; Chap. 141), as amended by subsection (a), is further amended— (1) in the first sentence— (A) by striking report at least once each year, or oftener and inserting publicly report, in accordance with the first section of Public Law 94–311 , at least once each year, or more frequently ; (B) by striking provided for his department and inserting provided for the Department of Labor ; and (C) by striking such manner as to him and inserting such manner as the Secretary ; and (2) in the last sentence, by striking such manner as he may deem satisfactory and inserting such manner as the Secretary may deem satisfactory . (c) Heading The Law Revision Counsel is directed to, where the first section of Public Law 94–311 ( 29 U.S.C. 8 ; 90 Stat. 688), as amended by subsection (a)(2), is displayed in the United States Code, designate the heading of such section as Unemployment data relating to individual demographics .