GAO report finds data missing for over half of US child labor deaths

Federal coordination on child labor ‘largely diminished’ since January 2025

A Government Accountability Office report released on Tuesday found that data on the cause of death or the industry where the child worked was missing in more than half of the 260 workplace fatalities among US minors recorded between 2013 and 2023. The report identified an average of 24 children under 18 dying from work-related incidents each year during that period. The findings come as the US Department of Labor’s collaboration with federal agencies on child labor enforcement has “largely diminished” since January 2025, according to the GAO.

Among the 109 fatalities with a reported industry, 75% of children worked in agriculture. Among the 111 fatalities with a reported cause of death, two-thirds were caused by transportation incidents.

Data gaps identified in the report include missing information about industry worked and cause of death in the agency’s workplace fatality data. Data collection on working children’s injuries and illnesses changed in 2021, making year-over-year comparisons with earlier years impossible. A Labor Department survey and two other federal datasets that included child labor injury data have ended, the GAO found.

The report cited a lack of coordination between agencies as a source of data-collection issues. It also found that the Labor Department’s wage and hour division “has not fully addressed” challenges the agency faces in enforcing child labor laws.

Between fiscal years 2015 and 2025, 59% of child labor law violations involved employers scheduling 14- or 15-year-old children to work longer or later than permitted by federal child labor laws, the GAO reported. Sixty-two percent of child labor violations during that period occurred in the accommodation and food services industry.

The report was issued in response to a July 2023 request led by House education and workforce committee ranking member Bobby Scott of Virginia, who asked the Government Accountability Office to assess the scope of child labor in the US, the capacity of government agencies to monitor, research, and enforce child labor laws, and the effectiveness of current efforts to address illegal child labor.

“The GAO report shows that the Trump administration’s upheaval of federal agencies has harmed children,” said Scott.

“As a result of the administration’s chaos, the federal government’s response to child labor lacks coordination, and its enforcement of child labor laws is less effective,” Scott said. “Additionally, the cost of slashing budgets at critical research agencies such as the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has led to real harms. The federal government cannot effectively prevent child labor if it does not have the information it needs to know where children are working, if they are being injured, and where the greatest risks exist.”

Scott has introduced a bill, the Protecting Children Act, which would improve data collection and usage to inform child labor enforcement.

According to the Guardian, the report comes as child labor violations in the US have surged over the past decade and 19 states have moved to relax child labor laws since 2021. The number of minors employed in violation of child labor laws in the US increased from 1,012 children in fiscal year 2015 to 5,272 in fiscal year 2025.