Advocacy Group Releases New Information from States Showing
Ongoing Child Labor Enforcement Woes

Washington, DC—The Child Labor Coalition (CLC) released discouraging results of its annual state survey today, revealing overall weak child labor enforcement.  The survey found inadequate numbers of compliance officers, insufficient workplace inspections, and almost non-existent oversight of the agriculture industry, where the highest rate of occupational fatalities among working youth occur. 

The Washington DC-based advocacy group, which represents more than 40 organizations, is concerned that there remains again this year states which report having no compliance officers to enforce any labor laws, including child labor protections.  Also troubling is that more than 20 states have ten or fewer compliance officers. 

This situation is not surprising, given that many state legislatures underfund their labor departments.  When department budgets are inadequate, child labor compliance often is reduced to sending an employer a brochure instead of conducting on-site inspections.

The CLC’s annual survey of state labor departments shows that the top two enforcement strategies for child labor are off-site employer outreach followed by on-site employer visits, with unannounced inspections running a distant third place.   In off-site employer outreach, the state labor department mails child labor literature or makes the information available online. In on-site outreach, the state department visits places where children may be employed to meet with employers in-person. Advocates believe that unannounced inspections are the most effective strategy to ensure child labor law compliance. 

“There are more than 230,000 injuries to working minors every year,” said Darlene Adkins, CLC coordinator.  “Printed brochures are no substitute for onsite inspections of workplaces,” said Darlene Adkins, CLC coordinator.  “State legislatures have an obligation to provide adequate resources to their labor departments so that these departments can be more aggressive in protecting working youth from hazardous and illegal work.”

The CLC survey also found that in 2004, states collected from employers who had violated child labor laws just over $1.1 million in penalties.  Nine states reported either the state labor department does not exercise authority to assess/collect penalties or the department does not have the authority to do so.

A comparison of 13 states that responded to both the 2003 and 2004 surveys found that in all but three states, monies collected in 2004 declined, ranging between 3 percent and a whopping 89 percent.  Five of the states reported that penalties collected for child labor violations in 2004 were less than half of what they collected the year before. 

Major findings of the survey also include alarmingly low enforcement in agriculture. A mere five state labor departments report conducting inspections for child labor in agriculture, an area in which an estimated 500,000 children work backbreaking shifts in intense heat and are often exposed to pesticide application, runoff, and drift. While about eight percent of working youth are employed in agriculture, the industry comprises 40 percent of child worker fatalities.

Thirty-two states responded to the 2004 Child Labor State Survey, a survey conducted annually by the Child Labor Coalition since 1992.  It is a self-reported survey completed by personnel of state labor departments or their equivalent.  State-specific survey results are available on the CLC Web site at http://www.stopchildlabor.org/USchildlabor/Child_Labor_State_Survey_2004.pdf.

###

 [CLC Home] [Contact CLC] [Join CLC] [NCL Home]