Number of federal wage and hour investigators is at a historic low: Number of Wage and Hour Division investigators, U.S. Department of Labor, 1973–2025
| Year | Investigators on staff 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 |
| 2022 | 810 |
| 2023 | 733 |
| 2024 | |
| 2025 | 611 |
Note: Numbers represent Wage and Hour Division investigators on staff at the end of each fiscal year (the federal government's fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30), except for 2022 and 2023. The 2022 number represents the investigators on staff at the end of November 2022. The 2023 number represents the investigators on staff as of December 7, 2023. The 2025 number represents investigators on staff as of May 2025. Data are not available for 2024.
Sources: Author’s analysis of Wage and Hour Division (WHD) data on number of investigators from unpublished Excel files provided by WHD staff members to the author.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. Source for 2022 is Rebecca Rainey, "Wage Division Enforcement Declines Again in Wake of Hiring Woes," Bloomberg Law, Decemer 28, 2022. Source for 2023 is Jessica Looman, "Big Results for Workers in 2023," U.S. Department of Labor Blog, December 7, 2023. Source for 2025 is Jake Barnes, Janice Fine, Daniel J. Galvin, Jenn Round, Hana Shepherd, To Help U.S. Workers, We Need Labor Standards Enforcement, Not Mass Deportations, Data Brief, Workplace Justice Lab, Rutgers University, May 2025.
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