Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

We were asked to (1) determine, given the data available, the extent and prevalence of children (defined as anyone under 18) working in agriculture, including their injuries and fatalities; (2) describe and analyze the federal legislative protections and those in selected states for children working in agriculture; (3) assess the enforcement of these laws as they apply to children working in agriculture; and (4) identify federal educational assistance programs and describe how they address the needs of children in migrant and seasonal agriculture, focusing on those aged 14 to 17. Estimates derived from CPS show that, on average, about 155,000 15- to 17-year-olds worked in agriculture in 1997. Severe Safety Problems More Likely for Children Working in Agriculture Than in Other Industries

For 1992 through 1995, BLS data show that between 400 and 600 workers under 18 suffered work-related injuries each year while working in agriculture. BLS data show that between 1992 and 1996, 59 children under 18 died while working as hired agricultural workers. Children Working in Agriculture Receive Less Legal Protection Than Children Working in Other Industries

FLSA and state laws provide less protection for children working in agriculture than they do for children working in other industries; therefore, children may work in agriculture in settings that would be illegal in other industries. For example, Vermont has no lower age limitation for children working in agriculture outside of school hours. Weaknesses in Enforcement and Data Collection Procedures Mean Violations Are Not Being Detected

Weaknesses in current enforcement and data collection procedures limit enforcement agencies’ ability to detect all violations of illegal child labor in agriculture. However, resources devoted to agriculture by federal and selected state enforcement agencies have declined in the past 5 years as have the number of cases of detected agricultural child labor violations. In addition, other types of labor law violations most likely involve children. Although both Education and Labor administer programs that target children with educational and economic disadvantages, the extent to which children involved in migrant and seasonal agricultural work participate in, or are helped by, these programs is generally unknown. Program operations and associated data limitations preclude, however, measuring program results for these youths. Recommendations

To improve Labor’s detection and reporting of illegal child labor in agriculture, we recommend that the Secretary of Labor direct the Assistant Secretary of Employment Standards to take the following actions: issue national enforcement procedures specifying the actions WHD inspectors should take during agricultural inspections when documentation for verifying a child’s age is missing or potentially fraudulent or when existing documentation does not reflect a child’s possible employment; take steps to ensure that procedures specified in the existing agreements among WHD and other federal and state agencies—especially regarding referrals to and from other agencies, joint inspections, and exchange of information—are being followed and, as required in some agreements, are being recorded and tracked; develop a method for identifying the number of record-keeping violations resulting from employers not having children’s ages on file as required by FLSA; and test the feasibility of collecting data on the number of minimum-wage and other labor law violations that involve individuals under 18.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed: (1) the extent and prevalence of children working in agriculture, including their injuries and fatalities; (2) the federal legislative protections and those in selected states for children working in agriculture; (3) the enforcement of these laws as they apply to children working in agriculture; and (4) federal educational assistance programs and how they address the needs of children in migrant and seasonal agriculture, focusing on those aged 14 to 17.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) according to one nationally representative estimate, about 116,000 15- to 17-year-olds worked as hired agricultural workers in 1997; (2) this estimate may undercount the number of children employed in agriculture because of methodological limitations in making the estimates; (3) of all children working in agriculture, between 400 and 600 suffer work-related injuries each year; (4) between 1992 and 1996, 59 children lost their lives while working in agriculture; (5) changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) have resulted in more protection for children working in agriculture than when the law was first passed; (6) nevertheless, FLSA and state laws provide less protection for children working in agriculture than for children working in other industries; (7) consequently, children may work in agriculture under circumstances that would be illegal in other industries; (8) weaknesses in current enforcement and data collection procedures limit the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division's (WHD) ability to detect violations involving children working in agriculture; (9) enforcement activities devoted to agriculture have declined in the past 5 years, as has the number of detected cases of agricultural child labor violations; (10) WHD has not established the procedures necessary for documenting whether children are working in agriculture in violation of child labor laws, nor has it routinely followed established procedures for facilitating enforcement coordination for better detecting illegal child labor in agriculture; (11) WHD's enforcement database does not identify all child labor-related violations under FLSA, nor can WHD and other enforcement agencies identify the extent to which children are involved in other types of labor law violations; (12) the Departments of Education and Labor have many programs to improve educational opportunities for disadvantaged school-aged children; however, few of these programs specifically target migrant and seasonal agricultural child workers or children of such workers, and most collect no information on the number of such children served; and (13) even for the two largest programs that target some or all of this population, program operations and subsequent data limitations impede a national evaluation of these programs' results for this target population.