Which U.S. president created the Department of Labor as a cabinet-level department?

William Howard Taft created the U.S. Department of Labor as a cabinet-level department.

Taft signed the legislation establishing the department on March 4, 1913, the final day of his presidency. The new department was designed to promote the welfare of wage earners, improve working conditions, and support productive relationships between workers and employers.

A separate federal Bureau of Labor had existed earlier, and the Department of Commerce and Labor was created in 1903. The 1913 law split that combined department into two cabinet departments: Commerce and Labor.

Woodrow Wilson became president later on March 4, 1913, and appointed the first Secretary of Labor, William B. Wilson. This timing can cause confusion, but Taft signed the law that created the cabinet department, while Wilson selected its first secretary.