Occupational safety and health data and labor statistics were evaluated in order to update a 1991 report on child labor. Data were from the Bureau of Labor Statistics; Department of Health and Human Services; National Institutes for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH); the Department of Labor's (DOL's) investigations database and individual case files; and interviews at DOL field offices and with NIOSH officials. Little change in the number and characteristics of working children was found. As many as 3.7 million children aged 15 to 17 worked in 2001; of those, approximately 4% were employed illegally. Among those most likely to be employed illegally were Hispanic and non-citizen children. The number of children who die each year from work-related injuries (62-73) changed little over the decade; however, those who incurred nonfatal injuries while working were more difficult to determine because of data discrepancies. Boys and Hispanic children; children working in construction, agriculture, transportation, and public utilities; and children working in family businesses faced a greater likelihood of being killed than other working children. Compliance with the child labor provisions of Fair Labor Standards Act was found wanting for these reasons: (1) lack of specific goals for industries in which children have high rates of injuries and fatalities; (2) inadequate methods of measuring compliance success; (3) poor planning and assessment; and, (4) inadequate guidance and training of local offices. The following items are appended: scope and methodology; recent legislative proposals on child labor; detailed information on children in the United States who work; and comments from the DOL/GAO. (Contains 24 tables and 13 figures.) (AJ)