Child Labor Violations Up 50% in 2023 Amid Federal Crackdown

The US Department of Labor found nearly 6,000 minors working in illegal conditions in the US in fiscal year 2023, a nearly 50% increase from FY 2022.

The number of children discovered to be working during hours or in places barred for minors under the Fair Labor Standards Act jumped from 3,876 in FY 2022 to 5,792 in FY 2023, according to new data released by the DOL Thursday.

The increase is likely related in part to the enhanced enforcement initiative launched by the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division earlier this year that has focused on addressing the increasing frequency of child labor cases popping up across multiple industries.

DOL officials said this summer that the special child labor task force it formed with the Department of Health and Human Services in February was the most aggressive enforcement effort in the wage division’s history.

DOL officials fined employers more than $8 million for child labor violations in FY 2023, nearly double the amount the division assessed for such violations the year prior, according to the new data.

The new figures likely underrepresent the full scope of child labor violations, as they only include cases that the DOL has closed.

Despite demonstrating some enforcement success, the data is likely to fuel concerns about the DOL’s ability to effectively ensure that kids are working in safe and legal conditions in the US economy.

Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Senate labor panel’s top Republican, on Thursday said he’s been unable to get sufficient answers from the DOL for nearly six months about the agency’s initial discovery of and response to the alarming jump in child labor cases over the past several months.

The DOL’s Office of Inspector General also opened an investigation in August probing the agency’s “efforts to curtail child labor law violations, as well as the cause for rising child labor law violations.”