As a loyal supporter of her longtime friend, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped make labor issues important in the emerging New Deal coalition.

She was one of two Roosevelt cabinet members to remain in office for his entire presidency (the other being Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes).

[10] In 1907, she moved to Philadelphia and enrolled at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School to learn economics, and spent two years in the city working as a social worker.

[11] Shortly after, she moved to Greenwich Village, New York, where she attended Columbia University and became active in the suffrage movement.

[12][13] In 1910 Perkins achieved statewide prominence as head of the New York office of the National Consumers League[14] and lobbied with vigor for better working hours and conditions.

[10][19] As part of the Committee on Safety, Perkins investigated another significant fire at the Freeman plant in Binghamton, New York, in which 63 people died.

In 1912,[20] she was instrumental in getting the New York legislature to pass a "54-hour" bill that capped the number of hours women and children could work.

[23] Perkins had cut back slightly on her public life following the birth of her daughter, but returned after her husband's illness to provide for her family.

[28] Smith stood by Perkins as someone who could be a voice for women and girls in the workforce and for her work on the Wagner Factory Investigating Committee.

[5] Having earned the co-operation and the respect of various political factions, Perkins helped put New York in the forefront of progressive reform.

She expanded factory investigations, reduced the workweek for women to 48 hours, and championed minimum wage and unemployment insurance laws.

Perkins presented Roosevelt with a long list of labor programs for which she would fight, from Social Security to minimum wage.

As chair of the President's Committee on Economic Security, she was involved in all aspects of its advisory reports, including the Civilian Conservation Corps and the She-She-She Camps.

In 1939, she came under fire from some members of Congress for refusing to deport the communist head of the West Coast International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Harry Bridges.

[46] Following her tenure as Secretary of Labor, in 1945, Perkins was asked by President Truman to serve on the United States Civil Service Commission,[47] which she accepted.

[49] Following her government service career, Perkins remained active and returned to educational positions at colleges and universities.

She was a teacher and lecturer at the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University until her death in 1965, at age 85.

[54] In 1967, the Telluride House and Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations established the Frances Perkins Memorial Fellowship.

[59] As the first woman to become a member of the presidential cabinet, Perkins had an unenviable challenge: she had to be as capable, as fearless, as tactful, and as politically astute as the other Washington politicians, in order to make it possible for other women to be accepted into the halls of power after her.

During a punishing United Auto Workers strike, she phoned Sloan in the middle of the night and called him a scoundrel and a skunk for not meeting the union's demands.

[61] Her achievements indicate her great love of workers and lower-class groups, but her conservative upbringing held her back from mingling freely and exhibiting personal affection.

[62] President Jimmy Carter renamed the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., the Frances Perkins Building in 1980.

[68] On April 10, 2003, a historical marker honoring Perkins was dedicated in Homestead, Pennsylvania, at the southwest corner of 9th and Amity.

[71] A mural depicting Perkins was displayed in the Maine Department of Labor headquarters,[72] the native state of her parents.

[73] A lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court seeking "to confirm the mural's current location, ensure that the artwork is adequately preserved, and ultimately to restore it to the Department of Labor's lobby in Augusta".

In the 1987 American movie Dirty Dancing, the lead character Frances "Baby" Houseman reveals that she was named after Perkins.

[79] Becoming Madam Secretary[80] by New York Times author Stephanie Dray tells the story of Ms. Perkins’ life.