Child labor continues to be a significant problem in 2024

According to the Department of Labor (DOL), recent years have seen an enormous increase in the amount of child labor violations within the United States. For example, the DOL found child labor violations affecting 5,792 children in fiscal year (FY) 2023, up from 3,876 in FY 2022. In response, Congress, the Biden administration, and the press have turned their focus to the issue. Though the high-profile cases were in manufacturing facilities and food production, all employers must be diligent about combatting child labor. The DOL has made it clear that it intends to hold companies accountable for violations by contractors and suppliers. Even companies not employing workers in targeted industries are required to ensure their supply chains are free of child labor.

Violations on the rise

The rise in child labor violations within the United States is attributable to a complicated array of social and economic factors. Increasing poverty and violence in Central American countries, such as Guatemala and El Salvador, has encouraged a migrant crisis at our southern border. Many unaccompanied minors are being trafficked across the U.S. border with the promise of earning money to feed their families.

These children are then being provided with high-quality, false documentation to obtain employment prohibited for anyone under 18. For example, in July a 16-year-old Guatemalan boy was killed while cleaning a poultry plant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, after allegedly submitting documentation to the plant’s staffing agency stating he was in his 30s.