The Department of Labor's annual Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor focuses on the efforts of 144 U.S. trade beneficiary countries and territories to eliminate the worst forms of child labor through legislation, enforcement mechanisms, policies and social programs.

The Report presents:

• Findings on the prevalence and sectoral distribution of the worst forms of child labor in each country.
• Country-specific suggestions for government action (since 2010).
• Individual country assessments that identify where Significant, Moderate, Minimal, or No Advancement has been made (since 2011).

The Report serves as a resource to foreign governments, NGOs, academics and policymakers working on labor and human rights issues. It helps inform Congress and Executive Branch agencies that formulate labor and trade policy and is an important resource for the Department in assessing future technical assistance and research priorities as it seeks to combat child labor around the world.

The Department's Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) has published the Findings each year since 2002, as mandated by the Trade and Development Act of 2000 (TDA). The TDA requires that countries fulfill commitments to eliminate the worst forms of child labor to be eligible for certain U.S. trade preference programs. It also requires the U.S. Secretary of Labor to issue annual findings on beneficiary country initiatives to implement these commitments.

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FLA holds affiliated companies accountable for enforcing its Workplace Code of Conduct in the factories, farms and facilities they use. To verify this, FLA has instituted a rigorous system for assessing working conditions, remedying violations and verifying progress. Working with FLA staff, independent external assessors randomly visit approximately five percent of facilities supplying affiliated companies each year. Since 2002, FLA has conducted more than 1,500 assessments - the results of which are posted below. View results by company, location, or year and learn more about how these assessments uncover issues and lead to improvements for workers.

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Walmart Accepted Clothing from Banned Bangladesh Factories   The world’s largest retailer last month released a list of more than 200 factories it said it had barred from producing its merchandise because of serious or repeated safety problems, labor violations or unauthorized subcontracting.

But at least two of the factories on the list have continued to send massive shipments of sports bras and girls' dresses to Walmart stores in recent months, according to interviews and U.S. customs records.

In June 2011, Walmart said, it banned the Bangladeshi garment factory Mars Apparels from producing goods for the retail giant. But over the last year, Mars has repeatedly shipped tons of sports bras to Walmart, according to U.S. customs records and Mars owners. The most recent shipment was in late May, almost two years after Walmart claims it stopped doing business with the Bangladeshi firm.

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