It’s giving a major transparency crisis. A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report dropped on Tuesday, and the vibes are off: we are missing critical data on more than half of the children who have died in workplace incidents over the last decade.
The reality check
Between 2013 and 2023, about 24 kids under 18 died on the job every year. That’s 260 total fatalities, but for over 50% of them, the government has zero clue about the industry they were in or how they actually died. For the cases where we do have answers, it’s a grim look: 75% of those kids were working in agriculture, and two-thirds of the deaths were tied to transportation accidents.
What’s going wrong?
Real talk: the federal government is lowkey failing to keep up. The report points out that coordination between agencies to catch labor violations has “largely diminished” since January 2025. On top of that, essential surveys tracking injuries and illnesses have been axed, and agency budget cuts have made it way harder to track where kids are working or the risks they’re facing.
Meanwhile, the stats on illegal child labor are surging. We went from 1,012 kids employed in violation of labor laws in 2015 to 5,272 in 2025. A massive 62% of these violations are happening in food and accommodation services, often involving kids as young as 14 being forced to work illegal hours.
Why it matters
Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, who pushed for this investigation, is calling out the current administration for the chaos. He says the lack of info makes it impossible to protect minors. He’s now pushing the "Protecting Children Act" to force better data collection. If the government doesn't know where the danger is, they can’t stop it—and that’s a major L for the safety of young workers across the country.
