25 Things You Need to Know from the 2023 Death on the Job Report

This 2023 edition of Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect marks the 32nd year the AFL-CIO has produced a report on the state of safety and health protections for America’s workers. Over the past 50 years, there has been significant progress toward improving working conditions and protecting workers from job injuries, illnesses and deaths. The progress has become more challenging as employers’ opposition to workers’ rights and protections has grown, and attacks on unions have intensified. Big corporations and many Republicans have launched an aggressive assault on worker protections.

Here are 25 things from the 2023 Death on the Job report you need to know:

1. There were 343 workers who died each day from hazardous working conditions.
2. There were 5,190 workers who were killed on the job in the United States in 2021.
3. An estimated 120,000 workers died from occupational diseases.
4. The job fatality rate increased to 3.6 per 100,000 workers.
5. Black workers died on the job at the highest rate in more than a decade.
6. Latino workers continue to be at greater risk of dying on the job than all workers.
7. Employers reported nearly 3.2 million work-related injuries and illnesses.