Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The Biden administration is ramping up its efforts to stop companies using child labor in dangerous and exploitative ways.
On Thursday, the Department of Labor announced it would take more measures to crack down on illegal child labor nationally, including heightening enforcement of child labor laws through new tactics and partnering with other agencies and foreign governments. This comes after recent investigations into major companies caught employing children for more hours than the legal limit, making minors perform illegal tasks, or hiring children under the legal age minimum.
"Child labor is an issue that gets to the heart of who we are as a country and who we want to be," acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su said in a statement. "Like the President, we believe that any child working in a dangerous or hazardous environment is one child too many."
According to the department's Wage and Hour Division, escalated enforcement of child labor laws resulted in a 44% increase in children found employed in violation of federal law between October 1, 2022, and July 20, 2023. This was coupled with an 87% rise in penalties such as fines over the same period.
During these 10 months, 4,474 children were found employed in violation of federal law, resulting in $6.6 million in penalties. The department said the agency is pursuing over 700 open child labor cases.
The announcement includes cross-training programs designed to increase reporting rates of child labor exploitation across various departments. In July and August, trainings are being broadened across the Department of Health and Human Services, including within the Office of Refugee Resettlement, as well as child welfare agencies and homeless and runaway youth programs. The Department of Labor has also engaged with other departments including Housing and Urban Development and Transportation, as well as the US Small Business Administration and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The Labor and State Departments have also worked with leadership from Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico to help combat exploitative child labor particularly for migrant children.
Other crackdown tactics including adding more resources to the Wage and Hour Division's website, creating "Know Your Rights" videos, and working with the Department of Education to further inform young people of their rights.
This comes after the department's February 2023 announcement of the Interagency Task Force to Combat Child Labor Exploitation, created in response to a 69% increase in illegal child labor findings from 2018 to 2022.
With worker shortages across many sectors of the economy, some employers have been looking to younger demographics to fill jobs, which may be partially contributing to an uptick in child labor.
In the news release, the department outlined recent investigations into child labor at companies including McDonald's, Sonic, and Minnesota-based Monogram Meat Snacks LLC. These included children being employed under the legal minimum age of 14, children under 16 working long hours, and minors under 18 working in hazardous conditions.
According to a Labor Department announcement in May, 62 McDonald's franchise locations across Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland, and Ohio were found to have employed 305 children above legally permitted hours, as well as allowed them to perform tasks prohibited for young workers. Sixteen more McDonald's franchise locations in Louisiana and Texas were found in violation of child labor laws last week, impacting 83 minors.
Nearly 700 children were found working illegally in hazardous jobs in 2022, according to the Wage and Hour Division, the highest annual number since 2011.
The Department of Labor's new methods for reducing child labor and holding companies accountable come at a time when states have introduced legislation that would weaken child labor laws, including in Missouri, Ohio, and South Dakota. Some states have pushed for paying youth employees less than minimum wage, while others have advocated for widening the jobs 14- and 15-year-olds could work.
