The Federal Retreat on Child Labor Enforcement Threatens America’s Children

Just when America needs stronger child labor protections, the Trump administration is seemingly abandoning enforcement altogether. A disturbing new analysis from Good Jobs First reveals that enforcement cases for a range of workplace violations declined by 97 percent last year.

And a review by the Child Labor Coalition found just two press releases about child labor enforcement in the year since President Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2025 — compared to two per month in the last two years under Biden.

This retreat comes at a perilous moment. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 28 states across the nation introduced bills to weaken child labor protections in recent years. This follows a 283 percent increase in child labor violations between 2015 and 2023, creating a perfect storm that leaves young workers dangerously exposed.

This isn’t bureaucratic negligence — it’s the systematic gutting of worker protections.

In spring 2025, the Trump administration identified 21 offices for closure within the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division — and is slashing staff at the agency responsible for enforcing federal child labor laws. Even before the current administration took office, there was just one inspector for every 202,000 workers.

As members of the House Committee on Education and Workforce warned the department last year, these cuts extend “an open invitation for employers to ignore workplace hazards, force miners to breathe toxic dust, staff children on overnight shifts at meatpacking plants or other dangerous jobsites, discriminate against workers, and steal workers’ wages without fear of any accountability.”

Federal enforcement sets a floor beneath which no state can fall. When that floor disappears, states can either strengthen their own enforcement with limited resources or allow violations to multiply unchecked. And unfortunately, that floor is dropping as several states have chosen to roll back their existing protections.

The consequences of weak enforcement are already visible in states like Iowa and California, where inadequate oversight has allowed dangerous child labor practices to flourish.

In Iowa, the legislature egregiously weakened child labor protections in 2023. An investigation by Common Good Iowa concluded that state investigators conducted only 77 child labor investigations in 2024, including one involving the death of a 17-year-old who was crushed by a utility vehicle while performing prohibited tasks without supervision.

Yet despite these cases, investigators issued just four civil monetary penalties totaling just $36,350 — a pittance that is unlikely to deter violations.

California’s agricultural sector presents an equally troubling picture, with enforcement agencies that are understaffed and lacking in capacity. A recent investigation by Capital & Main, documented in the Los Angeles Times, found “vast areas of California’s agricultural heartlands have gone years without worksite inspections by the front-line state agency charged with protecting underage workers.”

The investigation documented young farmworkers exposed to toxic pesticides that caused burning eyes and skin rashes, often working without adequate shade or water breaks, and earning below minimum wage.

Yet over eight years, “state officials issued just 27 citations for child labor violations, even though thousands of agricultural businesses operate in California. More than 90 percent of the fines were never collected.”

The actions of the Trump administration will make the situation worse. In addition to the lack of federal labor enforcement, Trump’s immigration crackdown increases the risks of farmworkers speaking up about brutal labor conditions.

There’s an alternative to this race to the bottom where businesses exploit children.

Congress needs to pass the bipartisan Justice for Exploited Children Act that would introduce a minimum monetary penalty for guilty parties and increase penalties overall. Two other bills, the Children Don’t Belong on Tobacco Farms Act and the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment and Farm Safety, would help close gaps that exclude farmworker children from basic protections.

Meanwhile, states need to increase child labor protections, not gut them. Several states, both red and blue, passed laws strengthening child labor protections in recent years — including Illinois, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon, Virginia, and Utah.

We need elected officials to build on this progress. Children nationwide deserve nothing less.

This piece was originally published on our sister site OtherWords.