BUREAU OF STATISTICS

The principal powers and duties delegated to the
Bureau of Statistics in the administrative work of
the Department of Labor and Industry are outlined
in Section 2204 of the Administrative Code which
reads as follows:
““The Department of Labor and Industry shall
have the power to collect, compile, and publish
statistics relating to labor and industry, to organizations
 of employes, and to organizations of
employers.”’
The word ‘‘statisties’’ is defined generally as meaning numerical
facts, collectively, pertaining to a body of things, especially quantitative
 data scientifically and systematically -collected, tabulated, collated,
and analyzed.
The Bureau of Statisties was organized in June, 1923. Prior to that
time each bureau in the Department kept its own statistical records
and published information concerning its own individual activities.
This plan operated unsatisfactorily, and the demand
for information, purely statistical in nature, concerning
 the work of the Department had increased
to such an extent that it was found to be advisable
to form a separate and distinct agency to carry on
the statistical work for the entire Department. The
scope of statistical work was enlarged, and it now
covers nearly all compilations that are used for administrative
 information and guidance, as well as
for all statistical information that is of general public
 interest.
The main and important groups into which the
statistical work of the Bureau is divided are: Industrial
 accidents, compensation, employment, wages, building activities.
 and Departmental records.

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS AND COMPENSATION

The collection and classification of facts relating to industrial aceidents
 on the basis of their relative number and manner of occurrence
is the major part of the Bureau’s work. The primary purpose in securing
 statistics of accidents is to obtain reliable information upon which
effective safety work may be based, and to indicate places where the
adoption and strict enforcement of accident preventive measures is
desirable. Secondary considerations are to obtain aceurate records of
the number and kind of industrial aecidents occurring, to provide
material for research into the effect of Workmen’s Compensation and
the need for improvements in Workmen’s Compensation Legislation,
and generally, to assist in the proper administration of the provisions
of the Workmen’s Compensation law.
In order to obtain best results for each of the considerations named.

RY