State and federal compliance efforts often rely on complaint-driven investigations and employer education. In 1999, at least 19 states had ten or fewer compliance officers, responsible for enforcing labor laws in the state, including child labor laws. Federal wage and hour inspectors barely exceed 1,000, who are responsible for ensuring labor law compliance under the Fair Labor Standards Act in more than three  million U.S. workplaces.

During the early 1990s, the U.S. Department of Labor conducted "Operation Child Watch," a series of investigations targeting employers of youth. In 1990 alone, the Department of Labor detected over 42,000 child labor violations, an increase of over 340 percent since fiscal year 1983. The total number of detected illegally employed minors increased by 330 percent to over 38,000. There has not been a strike force initiative of that magnitude since for child labor violations.

A 1998 analysis by Doug Kruse, Rutgers University, on illegal child labor in the U.S. estimates there are 148,000 illegally employed minors in an average week. Ten percent of employed 15-year-olds are working illegally and 1.6 percent of 16- and 17-year-olds are working illegally.