DOL’s Wage Enforcement Chief Leaves Trump Unfinished Business

Ongoing child labor enforcement efforts keep the outgoing chief of the US Labor Department’s primary enforcement arm, Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman, up at night.

During her nearly four-year tenure, Looman’s department collected more than $1 billion in backwages and damages under the dozens of laws it enforced. She also stood up a specialized child labor enforcement taskforce aimed at reversing a rising trend of children working in illegal and dangerous conditions.

The focus on child labor enforcement followed media reports and agency investigations that detailed migrant children working in jobs that are banned for minors under federal law, ...