Department of Labor announces annual worst forms of child labor report; launches updated, redesigned tools to combat labor abuses

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the release of the 22nd edition of the “Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor,” which spotlights child labor abuses globally and reviews progress made by some countries to meet their international commitments to eliminate abuses.

Prepared and published annually by the department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs, the report includes an overview of 131 countries and territories’ child labor situations. These situations include trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor, hazardous work, commercial sexual exploitation and the use of children in armed conflict or illicit activities. 

“For more than 25 years, the Bureau of International Labor Affairs has been exposing child labor and forced labor abuses around the world,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. “I am confident that this reporting – along with the updated digital tools released today and continued collaboration with domestic and international partners – will bolster our collective efforts to address labor abuses wherever they may be found.”

The International Labor Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund estimate that 160 million children — almost one in 10 children worldwide — toiled in child labor in 2020, an increase of 8 million children since 2016. Nearly half work in conditions likely to harm their safety, health or morals.

The report also details how governments are working to eliminate child labor through legislation, law enforcement, policies and social programs. It provides more than 2,000 country-specific recommendations for government action in each of these areas.

In its continued efforts to end child labor, ILAB has made updates to the following online tools:

• A redesigned Comply Chain website that offers businesses a comprehensive set of best practices for developing strong, worker-driven social compliance systems to reduce child labor and forced labor in supply chains. The site now offers customized navigation, useful examples of good practices and content focused on helping businesses’ due diligence efforts. 
• An updated Sweat & Toil app with easier to access information on child and forced labor. The app includes the List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor and the latest details on how governments around the world are addressing child labor. Users can also view goods produced with exploitative labor by region and sector, the sectoral distribution of where children work by country, and labor inspectorate information by region.
• An updated Better Trade Tool includes revamped, dynamic dashboards and custom queries that allow users to view and analyze U.S. trade data against potential child labor and forced labor risks in U.S. supply chains. The tool now offers a global data dashboard to alert users to the risk of child labor and forced labor in global supply chains.

Learn more about ending child labor and forced labor. 

Learn more about ILAB and the department’s international work.