On this World Day Against Child Labor , we reflect on the 3.3 million children (PDF) who experience forced labor every year around the world. According to the International Labor Organization (PDF), the prevalence of forced labor increased from 2016 to 2021, exclusively driven by the private economy. In 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)-funded National Human Trafficking Hotline received information on 10,360 situations of potential human trafficking involving more than 16,000 potential victims. Of the trafficking situations, 1,066 involved labor trafficking in venues including domestic work, agriculture, construction, and food services. Of the trafficking situations, 2,365 involved children. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reports on child labor, forced labor, and the worst forms of child labor provide additional information on labor abuses.
Along the spectrum of harm that a child may experience in labor settings, they experience labor exploitation when someone unfairly benefits from the child’s work. However, fairness may be subjective, and not all labor exploitation is illegal. Situations of labor exploitation that are illegal are those that violate federal, state, and local laws related to the treatment of workers, safety of working conditions, and other violations such as nonpayment of required wages, illegal deductions from pay, and misclassification of workers for tax purposes.
Some labor violations rise to the level of child labor trafficking when someone recruits, harbors, transports, provides, or obtains a child for labor or services through any element of force, fraud, or coercion (22 U.S.C. § 7102(11)(b)). The factors could be physical (e.g., restricted movement, changing working conditions, violence); financial (e.g., debt bondage, withholding of identity documents); or other manipulated conditions (e.g., threats of deportation and enforcement, risk to safety). There are other labor violations that have serious elements of exploitation that do not constitute labor trafficking when there is the absence of force, fraud, or coercion.
Economic dynamics contributing to labor trafficking in the private and informal sectors can be further exacerbated by natural disasters during the cleanup and rebuilding phase, other population-level emergencies (e.g., pandemics, conflicts), or persistent workforce shortages that human traffickers and labor recruiters exploit through forced labor. Criminal organizations around the world and in the U.S. also exploit children in illicit markets through forced criminality (PDF) schemes (e.g., forced cannabis cultivation, forced drug transportation). Child victims of forced labor in the United States can be of any gender and nationality, including U.S. citizens.
At the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), we join global efforts to prevent child labor trafficking by:
- Supporting children experiencing labor trafficking: In Federal Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, ACF issued 2,226 Eligibility Letters to children experiencing human trafficking, of whom 77% experienced labor trafficking. These letters enable eligibility for children who have experienced human trafficking to receive case management services from anti-trafficking organizations and apply for refugee benefits. In FY22, ACF victim assistance grant recipients assisted nearly 900 child trafficking survivors with comprehensive case management services and the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor program supported 452 survivors of child trafficking. Last year, ACF announced the Lighthouse: Services, Outreach, and Awareness for Labor Trafficking Demonstration Program to meet the needs of labor trafficking survivors. Lighthouse grant recipients provide case management services to survivors and their families, conduct outreach to increase the identification of labor trafficking, and raise awareness for local community organizations working with individuals who may be experiencing labor trafficking.
- Building the capacity of communities to prevent labor trafficking: Over the last year, ACF published new resources to strengthen culturally responsive services to foreign national youth and youth of any nationality in the child welfare system at high risk for trafficking. Other resources work to enhance protections for runaway and homeless youth survivors of trafficking and unaccompanied children. ACF also established the Joint Forced Labor Working Group to partner with healthcare institutions, survivors, and procurement experts to prevent forced labor in public health supply chains.
- Strengthening government collaboration and coordination: In February, DOL and HHS announced new efforts to combat exploitative child labor, including an agreement formalizing the partnership. ACF provides training to federal, state, and local agencies on resources to screen, identify, and respond to human trafficking through trauma-informed practices, including monthly trainings on mandatory reporting requirements on potential child trafficking. ACF also engages with federal advisory committees, including the HRSA National Advisory Council on Migrant Health (e.g., November 2022 (PDF)) and the Presidentially-appointed U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking (see implementation of recommendations, including on labor trafficking).
- Advancing knowledge on forced labor: In 2021, ACF supported Class 6 of the Human Trafficking Leadership Academy, bringing together individuals with lived experience and allies to assess and respond to risk factors among migratory families to prevent labor trafficking. ACF funded an effort to test prevalence methodologies to understand forced labor in the construction industry and integrated labor trafficking into a learning agenda, informed by survivors of trafficking. ACF continues to gather oral histories for a national archive to increase understanding of the personal impact of human trafficking and the resiliency of survivors leading anti-trafficking efforts, including inspiring narratives of individuals impacted by labor trafficking. ACF funded a supplemental issue of Public Health Reports, the official journal of the Surgeon General, on the Public Health Response to Human Trafficking, including studies on screening for labor trafficking.
To prevent child labor exploitation, we must work together to address the root causes that create risks and to strengthen protection factors at individual, family, community, and societal levels (PDF).
Additional information and resources from ACF:
- Emerging Issues Webinar Series: Labor Trafficking: Recorded webinar on tools and research for outreach, identification, response, and risk reduction strategies for foreign national and migrant workers.
- The Overlap of Human Trafficking and Runaway and Homeless Youth : A brief on the intersection, challenges, and action steps on trafficking impacting runaway and homeless youth.
- Intersection of Human Trafficking, Youth Homelessness, Intimate Partner Violence, and Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention: A list of fact sheets, issue briefs, and other resources on human trafficking and risk factors for exploitation.
- Trafficking Prevention and Protection Resources for Working with Unaccompanied Children: Lists resources on trainings; screening and reporting; and prevention, public awareness, and benefits.
- Forced Labor in Healthcare and Public Health Supply Chains Information Memorandum: Discusses federal statutory and regulatory framework for preventing and addressing forced labor in health and public health (HPH) supply chains, including relevant laws and regulations, policy guidance, and additional resources.
- SOAR Online : Foundational and advanced training modules designed to educate health care providers, social workers, public health professionals, and behavioral health professionals.