Maybe so, maybe not. And if they do check, all the electrician usually needs is "general lights" as every breaker plus maybe the "A/C", "Furnace", "Oven". I usually have the door off for the inspector and rarely do they pick it up to see if it is labeled. Heck one time an inspector passed a service upgrade I did from his car. He showed up early and called me on the phone and asked if I grounded it to the water pipe and if the correct size breakers were used and then left a passed form in the mailbox.

Most houses that are over 50 years old are very difficult to label in a worthwhile way. The circuits spider off to so many locations that an accurate description would require a page of labeling for one breaker. The electrician might flip the breaker and see the basement light go off and label the breaker "basement light" Even though it also has a random counter top outlet, a security light, a vent fan in a bathroom, and 1 outlet of a bedroom. I give it about 15 minutes of hunting around to label an upgrade. You'll end up needing to flip around to find the correct breaker anyway in an old house.

But no labels at all, either he was planning to come back or just does not care. If it doesn't pass, he can pay the fee for re-inspection. If it does pass, you might label it your self in detail anyway. Unless you want to wind up with the electrician coming out for 5 minutes to write the word "lights" written all over the labels in permanent marker :)

Yep, code not withstanding, I've found it more advantageous to mark under the switch/receptacle plates what circuit they are on which is really what I wanted to know anyhow. My tract house has (in an attempt to save what was then probably only $10 in wire) run most of the circuits predominantly vertical (i.e. the living room back wall and the bedroom backwall above it are on the same circuit). It's handy as it means that rooms are usually served by two circuits (even if they're shared with other rooms).

Coming up with some way of labelling the panel other than "RECEPTACLES" or LIGHTING would take more room than the panel has on the door.

NEC code 110.22(a)
Each disconnecting means shall be legibly marked to indicate its purpose unless located and arranged so its purpose is evident

As noted above, it is required to be labeled, but you do not need (or want) an electricians bill for mapping the outlets in your house.

'Lights', 'receptacles', 'furnace', 'water heater' and other generic labels usually pass.

Usually an inspector will catch this, as per code 2008 NEC code, each label has to be "unique". For example, they cannot all be labeled "receptacle", but must individually be different, ie: recept - liv. rm., recept - bath, recept- m. bath, etc.

If the breakers were not labeled prior to the upgrade, then unless circuit mapping was included as part of the upgrade, I doubt they would get labeled. It's a cost/expense thing.

What Normel said.

If the whole panel is devoid of labeling I do my best to get the obvious ones; furnace, well, A/C, basement lights, etc.

Hi
Thankyou for your input,
heres the deal, this "licensed" electrician did an upgrade, we had a labeled panel previously, in my opinion he did an extremely half ass job, two of our previous breakers are not even hooked up inside the panel, 1 for our pool another for an outdoor gfi by the pool. can't trip either, no juice. Im pissed
I now know he did things a bit illegal to avoid waitng for poco, and we are currently waiting for municipal inspection, I called him with my concerns regarding the unmarked panel and possible inspection failure , he was arrogant told me to let him worry about it, said he was too busy to argue and inevietably hung up on me.
I want to call the inspector myself RIGHT NOW and have him come out and see what this panel looks like, I do not want to give that electrician the opportunity to come out right before to fix things up, he has left tis like this for 2 weeks now. BTW I just figured out that the pool and outdoor gfi are not hooked up,as I was trying to label the panel MYSELF, this mofo should have done it, isn't that part of his job ??? bear in mind this was a ca$h job, he pushed hard to get it done , my guess is he needed cash quick, hurried to get it done and is not concerned any longer, my biggest mistake besides hiring him, was paying him in full,reagrding the handling of this situation, what would YOU do?????

Tell the inspector that you have some dead circuits that worked fine before the "upgrade." Make sure you're there when the inspector comes. Sometimes, inspections and inspectors are useless. As someone pointed out, one inspector didn't even get out of his car. Plus, inspectors really have no liability if something is wrong. "I can't check EVERYTHING, ya know!"
If you still have doubts after the passing inspection, hire a different electrician to look it over.
You can thoroughly map your circuits yourself. It's a good rainy-day activity. Just be careful if you're mapping outside receptacles in the rain!

well I am amazed
I spoke with the inspector and revealed to him over the phone that I have unmarked panel as well as a couple of breakers not hooked up annd asked if this fails whos it fall on , he said me the homeowner, and he also informed me that he doesn't take the panel cover off, hes not a licensed electrician. wtf.
I paid an electrician, and if it fails i'm responsible to hire ANOTHER electrician ?? !!!
i'm pissed, our local poco won't put a meter in until the town approves, this is senseless, I would think the electrician would bear the liability on this.

"I paid an electrician, and if it fails i'm responsible to hire ANOTHER electrician ?? !!!"

Sadly, in this case, even if it passes you probably will have to hire another electrician to complete and inspect the work, unless you can get any response from the first idiot. Frankly, I wouldn't bother with him again. More amazing is that the inspector seems utterly useless. Welcome to the bureaucracy!