LABOR DEPARTMENTS, Foreign. The development of early labor legislation in all countries soon pointed out the fact that labor laws are useless unless properly enforced by special authorities. Accordingly most coun tries sooner or later created one or more de partments to deal with the ever-increasing number of labor laws. The functions of these departments is first of all to administer all exist ing labor laws and then to conduct investiga tions that will lay foundations for future legis lation. Under their administrative functions labor departments appoint inspectors to enforce workshop regulations, regulate social insurance laws, conduct labor exchanges to help unem ployed and serve as or create boards to settle industrial disputes or fix wages and hours of labor. Under their functions as investigators labor departments conduct research, gather statistical data, issue reports and often draft laws. In the larger European countries the de partments are under the guidance of ministers of labor, while in smaller countries they are attached to other ministries.
In England factory inspectors to enforce workshop regulations were for the first time provided for under the Factory Act of 1833. They were placed under the supervision of the Secretary of State for Home Affairs. At present the Home Office has a factory inspection department supervised by an under-secretary. Other labor .laws •before the war were admin istered by the Labor Department of the Board of Trade, established in 1893. The depart ment administered the Labor Exchanges Act of 1909, the Trade Boards Act of 1909, and the National Unemployment Insurance Acts of 1911 and 1916. The Board of Trade also is sued a monthly paper, and annual and special reports on wages, hours and labor in other countries. During the war its powers and authorities were transferred to a Ministry of Labor. Health insurance is regulated by boards of insurance commissioners.
In Germany the enforcement of the labor law is mainly left to the individual states. Each state has a labor or inspection bureau that en forces workshop regulations with the help of the police authorities. Imperial supervision is very slight. In Prussia the factory inspection department is under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. At the head of the insurance system is the Imperial Insurance Office assisted by district and local insurance offices. The above departments also conduct investigations and research work.
In France a Bureau of Inspection of Labor was for the first time established in 1841. In 1891 the Superior Council of Labor, represent ing employers, employees and the government, was founded to investigate labor conditions and act as adviser to the government in labor problems. At the present time the Inspection Service, like the Superior Council, is a part of the Ministry of Labor, established in 1906, at the head of which is a member of the Cabinet. Accident insurance is regulated by a special bureau and old-age pensions are under the supervision of a Superior Council in the Ministry of Labor.
Austrian labor laws are administered by the Ministry of Commerce and at the head of the inspection service is a central industrial in spector. In Holland a Bureau of Labor was established in the Department of Public Works in 1916 to institute unemployment insurance and supervise labor exchanges. In Belgium there is a Ministry of Industry and Labor, under which there is a Labor Office. The latter was organized in 1895. It administers all labor laws, investigates labor problems, inspects factories and supervises insurance. In Italy a Labor Department was established in 1902, in Switzerland in 1886, in Denmark in 1859, Sweden in 1902 and in Spain in 1903.