Figure D
Number of federal wage and hour investigators is near its historic low: Number of Wage and Hour Division investigators, U.S. Department of Labor, 1973–2021
| Year | Investigators on board at year’s end |
|---|---|
| 1973 | 812 |
| 1974 | 869 |
| 1975 | 921 |
| 1976 | 964 |
| 1977 | 980 |
| 1978 | 1,232 |
| 1979 | 1,087 |
| 1980 | 1,059 |
| 1981 | 953 |
| 1982 | 914 |
| 1983 | 928 |
| 1984 | 916 |
| 1985 | 950 |
| 1986 | 908 |
| 1987 | 951 |
| 1988 | 952 |
| 1989 | 970 |
| 1990 | 938 |
| 1991 | 865 |
| 1992 | 835 |
| 1993 | 804 |
| 1994 | 800 |
| 1995 | 809 |
| 1996 | 781 |
| 1997 | 942 |
| 1998 | 942 |
| 1999 | 938 |
| 2000 | 949 |
| 2001 | 945 |
| 2002 | 898 |
| 2003 | 850 |
| 2004 | 788 |
| 2005 | 773 |
| 2006 | 751 |
| 2007 | 732 |
| 2008 | 731 |
| 2009 | 894 |
| 2010 | 1,035 |
| 2011 | 1,024 |
| 2012 | 1,067 |
| 2013 | 1,040 |
| 2014 | 976 |
| 2015 | 995 |
| 2016 | 974 |
| 2017 | 912 |
| 2018 | 835 |
| 2019 | 780 |
| 2020 | 823 |
| 2021 | 782 |
Note: Numbers represent Wage and Hour Division investigators on staff at the end of each year.
Sources: Author’s analysis of Wage and Hour Division (WHD) data on number of investigators from unpublished Excel files provided by WHD staff members to the author. Source for 2020 and 2021 is Rebecca Rainey, “Wage-Hour Investigator Hiring Plans Signal DOL Enforcement Drive,” Bloomberg Law, January 28, 2022.
This chart appears in:
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