Secretary of State for Employment

The Secretary of State for Employment was a position in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. In 1995 it was merged with Secretary of State for Education to make the Secretary of State for Education and Employment. In 2001 the employment functions were hived off and transferred to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Minister of Labour (1916–1940)

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political Party	Prime Minister
	John Hodge		10 December 1916	17 August 1917	Labour		David Lloyd George (Coalition)
	George Henry Roberts		17 August 1917	10 January 1919	Labour
	Sir Robert Horne		10 January 1919	19 March 1920	Unionist
	Thomas James Macnamara		19 March 1920	19 October 1922	Liberal
	Sir Anderson Montague-Barlow		31 October 1922	22 January 1924	Conservative		Bonar Law
							Stanley Baldwin
	Tom Shaw		22 January 1924	3 November 1924	Labour		Ramsay MacDonald
	Sir Arthur Steel-Maitland, Bt		6 November 1924	4 June 1929	Conservative		Stanley Baldwin
	Margaret Bondfield		7 June 1929	24 August 1931 (lost seat 1931)	Labour		Ramsay MacDonald
	Sir Henry Betterton, Bt		25 August 1931	29 June 1934	Conservative		Ramsay MacDonald (1st & 2nd National Min.)
	Oliver Stanley		29 June 1934	7 June 1935	Conservative
	Ernest Brown		7 June 1935	13 May 1940	Liberal National		Stanley Baldwin (3rd National Min.)
							Neville Chamberlain (4th Nat.Min.; War Coalition)

Minister of Labour and National Service (1940–1959)

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political Party	Prime Minister
	Ernest Bevin		13 May 1940	23 May 1945	Labour		Winston Churchill (War Coalition)
	R. A. Butler		25 May 1945	26 July 1945	Conservative		Winston Churchill (Caretaker Min.)
	George Isaacs		3 August 1945	17 January 1951	Labour		Clement Attlee
	Aneurin Bevan		17 January 1951	23 April 1951 (resigned)	Labour
	Alfred Robens		24 April 1951	26 October 1951	Labour
	Walter Monckton		28 October 1951	20 December 1955	Conservative		Sir Winston Churchill
							Sir Anthony Eden
	Iain Macleod		20 December 1955	14 October 1959	Conservative
							Harold Macmillan
	Edward Heath		14 October 1959	12 November 1959	Conservative

Minister of Labour (1959–1968)

Name		Term of office		Political Party	Prime Minister
	Edward Heath	12 November 1959	27 July 1960	Conservative		Harold Macmillan
	John Hare	27 July 1960	20 October 1963	Conservative
	Joseph Godber	20 October 1963	16 October 1964	Conservative		Sir Alec Douglas-Home
	Ray Gunter	18 October 1964	6 April 1968	Labour		Harold Wilson

Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity (1968–1970)

Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political Party	Prime Minister
	Barbara Castle		6 April 1968	19 June 1970	Labour		Harold Wilson

Secretary of State for Employment (1970–1995)

Name		Term of office		Political Party	Prime Minister
	Robert Carr	20 June 1970	7 April 1972	Conservative		Edward Heath
	Maurice Macmillan	7 April 1972	2 December 1973	Conservative
	William Whitelaw	2 December 1973	4 March 1974	Conservative
	Michael Foot	5 March 1974	8 April 1976	Labour		Harold Wilson
	Albert Booth	8 April 1976	4 May 1979	Labour		James Callaghan
	James Prior	5 May 1979	14 September 1981	Conservative		Margaret Thatcher
	Norman Tebbit	14 September 1981	16 October 1983	Conservative
	Tom King	16 October 1983	2 September 1985	Conservative
	The Lord Young of Graffham	2 September 1985	13 June 1987	Conservative
	Norman Fowler	13 June 1987	3 January 1990	Conservative
	Michael Howard	3 January 1990	11 April 1992	Conservative
						John Major
	Gillian Shephard	11 April 1992	27 May 1993	Conservative
	David Hunt	27 May 1993	20 July 1994	Conservative
	Michael Portillo	20 July 1994	5 July 1995	Conservative

Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1995–2001)

Name		Term of office		Political Party	Prime Minister
	Gillian Shephard	5 July 1995	2 May 1997	Conservative		John Major
	David Blunkett	2 May 1997	8 June 2001	Labour		Tony Blair

The office was merged with the Department of Social Security to form the Department of Work and Pensions in 2001.