Child Labor Coalition

1701 K Street, NW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC  20006

Phone 202.835.3323          Fax 202.835.0747

email childlabor@stopchildlabor.org              www.stopchildlabor.org

 

2003 Child Labor State Survey

 

 

Respondents:                       39 state labor departments, (or equivalent) child labor contacts

 

                                                Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming

 

Non-Respondents:               12 state labor departments including the District of Columbia.

 

                                                Colorado, District of Columbia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, and Virginia

 

 

Response Rate:                    75 percent

 

 

Date Of Survey:                    January 2004

 

 

 

 

Prepared by the National Consumers League for the Child Labor Coalition,

1701 K Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006; 202-835-3323; (fax) 202-835-0747

June 2004

 

 

2003 Child Labor State Survey Highlights

 

 

 

State Child Labor Enforcement Personnel in 2003

·         539 compliance officers are responsible for enforcing all state labor laws (including child labor) in 39 states (In 2002 – 528).  28 of the total of 539 are responsible for investigating child labor compliance/violations exclusively (in 2002- 26).

  • 22 states (more than half of survey respondents) have ten or fewer compliance officers who are responsible for enforcing labor laws in the state, including child labor.  Only four states have a total number of 25 or more compliance officers.  Four states have no compliance officers.  Top state with enforcement personnel is New York at 88 compliance officers.
  • Average compliance officer presence in reporting states:
    • 13.8 compliance officers (counting New York)
    • 11.8 compliance officers (not counting New York)

 

 

Child Labor Inspections in 2003

  • Total inspections for labor law compliance (including child labor) and inspections finding child labor violations:       
    • Total Inspections:  38 states report 62,621 (down from 2002 – 33 states conducting 62,755)
    • Total Inspections Finding Child Labor Violations: 36 states report 14,469 (up from 2002 -- 33 states reporting 6,015
  • Total illegally employed minors found in 30 reporting states:  4,755 (down from 2002 – 22 states reporting 5,437 minors)
  • Only seven states reported conducting inspections targeting child labor compliance in agriculture with four states reporting finding child labor violations.  A total of 75 minors were illegally found employed in three states; one state could not provide figures.
  • 98 percent of all inspections in agriculture were in the states of CA (855 inspections) and FL (3,326 inspections).
  • In total, 39 reporting states collected a total of $1,865,249 for child labor violations (2002 – 39 states reported collecting $2,586,724).  Twelve states reported either the state does not exercise authority to assess/collect civil money penalties or the state does not have the authority to do so.
  • The top five child labor violations related to minors engaged in prohibited activities involved:  motor vehicle operations (including delivery driving, forklifts); construction (including roofing); food preparation (cooking, slicers, bakery machines); power-driven machinery/saws; and manufacturing.

 

 

Other Data

  • Eight states reported occupational deaths among minors under age 18 with a total of 10 deaths.
  • Eleven states reported changes in their child labor laws/regulations.

Child Labor Enforcement In FY 2003

 

1.  How many compliance officers enforce labor laws in your agency? (Count only those actually out conducting inspections). Breaking down the total, how many are responsible to inspect workplaces for child labor compliance/violations exclusively; how many are responsible to inspect workplaces for all labor compliance/violations (of which child labor is included).

 

 
State

Total Compliance

Officers

Child Labor

Exclusively

All Labor

Compliance

AL

3

3

0

AK

11

0

11

AZ

1

1

0

AR

5

0

5

CA

57

0

57

CT

4

0

4

DE

10

0

10

FL

20

6

14

GA

70

1

69

HI

12

0

12

ID

0

0

0

IL

10

0

10

IN

**

6

0

IA

19

0

19

KS

5

0

5

KY

21

0

21

ME

3

0

3

MN

6

0

6

MO

13

2

11

MT

0

0

0

NE

6

0

6

NV

8

0

8

NH

10

0

10

NM

9

1

8

NY

88

0

88

NC

12

0

12

ND

11

0

11

OH

17

0

17

OK

1

1

0

OR

12

0

12

SC

8

0

8

SD

0

0

0

TN

12

0

12

TX

7

7

0

VT

1

0

1

WA

25

0

25

WV

19

0

19

WI

15

0

15

WY

8

0

8

 

 

Notes: ** No answer given.

 

 

 

2.  How many inspections were conducted by your agency in FY 2003 for labor law compliance (in which child labor law compliance would have been included)?

 

 

State

 

Total Inspections

Inspections showing Violations

Total Illegally Employed Minors Found

AL

1,703

1,151

275

AK

749

52

Unknown

AZ

168

2

3

AR

2,228

448

16

CA

6,816

210