Assuming someone hasn't studied it already, which would by definition
be a secondary source even assuming someone had and you could find it,
you'll need to go State-by-State.  And if you're studying the same
material yourself, you might end up wanting to gather your own data on
the various States anyway, even if someone else already has.

When I worked for the New York State Senate I authored a brief paper
on the history of the New York Department of Labor, which was
basically created to save a fairly small amount of money by
consolidating other agencies into one.  (On that score at least, it
didn't work out as well as hoped.  The savings, never expected to be
large, proved to be miniscule.)  If you think this would interest you
E-mail me a conventional mailing address (the form it's in is not
easily E-Mailed).

I have a fading memory of a paper posted on the U.S. Department of
Labor's Internet site some years back, which dealt with in broad
fashion with the history of U.S. labor laws.  My faded memory suggests
it might have also touched upon State-level labor laws.

I also vaguely recall a small literature on the creation of the U.S.
Department of Labor that might have talked about the creation of the
State agencies.

And finally, if you study each policy sub-domain (for want of a better
term at the moment) of the labor policy domain (unionization laws;
child labor laws; etc) you will likely find information on the
enactment of State laws within that sub-domain.  Be aware though that
I've found that literature to contain some curious inaccuracies.  For
example, secondary sources did not agree on what year New York State
enacted its first prevailing wage law, so I had to dig it up myself.

Sincerely,
Steven Koczak

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